Liverpool thrashes Tottenham 4-0, reaches League Cup final vs. Newcastle

Liverpool will face Newcastle in the English League Cup final after demolishing Tottenham 4-0 on Thursday.

Their dominant display reversed Spurs’ 1-0 advantage from the first leg of the semifinal, securing a 4-1 aggregate victory. This result keeps Arne Slot’s team in the hunt for an extraordinary quadruple of trophies in his debut season as manager.

It sounds like Liverpool had an impressive semifinal performance, with Gakpo getting things started and then Salah, Szoboszlai, and Van Dijk adding to the score.

Now, they have a final to look forward to against Newcastle on March 16 at Wembley. It’s always exciting when teams aim to defend their titles. Do you think Liverpool can retain the trophy?

His team is top of the Premier League, into the round of 16 in the Champions League and also in the FA Cup.

Such a humbling defeat for Tottenham, meanwhile, will likely lead to more speculation about the future of manager Ange Postecoglou, with his team languishing 14th in the league and having won just four of its last 13 games in all competitions, reports AP.

For the first time under Postecoglou, Spurs failed to get a shot on target in a game, according to stats provider Opta.

The League Cup had felt like a lifeline for the Australian and the chance to lift Spurs’ first trophy since it won the same competition in 2008.

“We have given up a good opportunity tonight and we cannot shy away from that,” Postecoglou said. “We were in a good position to get to the final.

“Nobody needs to pick me up, I just need to pick up the players.”

Tottenham was overwhelmed by a Liverpool team that is sweeping aside all-comers this term.

Gakpo’s first-time finish with his right foot leveled the tie on aggregate in the 34th minute and Liverpool took complete control after the break.

Salah fired a penalty high into the top corner in the 51st after Darwin Nunez was brought down by Spurs goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky in the box and Szoboszlai ended a slick Liverpool attack with a low finish in the 75th.

Van Dijk headed in Liverpool’s fourth from a corner five minutes later.

The League Cup proved to be Klopp’s final piece of silverware in a trophy-laden reign at Liverpool with victory against Chelsea in last year’s final. Then, as now, the Merseyside club was in contention for a quadruple, but ended up with just one trophy.

Slot’s team looks better placed to win multiple titles — sitting six points clear in the league.

“It’s not normal to reach a final, we should always be aware of that,” Slot said.

For Newcastle, the final marks another another chance to end its 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy. Its last trophy was the now-defunct Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969 and the most recent domestic title was the FA Cup in 1955.

Despite being bought by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in 2021, it is still waiting to end that trophy drought. But a 4-0 aggregate victory over Liverpool’s closest title rival Arsenal is evidence of the threat posed by Eddie Howe’s team in the final.