Tottenham Hotspur vs. Liverpool: EFL Match Preview, Odds & Prediction

The second leg of this week's EFL Cup semi-finals, between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, will take place on Wednesday night at Spurs' home stadium.

While Ange Postecoglou aims to keep his vow of always winning a trophy within two years at a new club, Liverpool head Arne Slot will keep pushing to defend the cup won by Jurgen Klopp last season.

Previous Matches and Head-to-head

Postecoglou has pledged to make good on his campaign promises, but Tottenham must improve significantly from their 6-3 loss to Liverpool in North London before Christmas.

As with Postecoglou's mindset since joining the club, Spurs' dismal defensive performance was indicative of the current sickness and injury crises afflicting his squad.

At the weekend, Spurs fans experienced another home loss as their team lost 2-1 to a hot Newcastle United. This keeps Spurs in 12th place, 10 points below the top six, and on a one-point skid from their last four games.

One of the reasons Spurs have one of the division's most porous defenses and have only managed one clean sheet in eleven games is because they played the entire second half without any center defenders on the field.

Spurs will be looking to use this game to set themselves up well for the FA Cup second leg against Tamworth this coming weekend, as well as to gain confidence and prepare for next week's North London derby.

Postecoglou must win this tournament to end the club's 17-year drought for a major trophy while league aspirations are fading.

Spurs have failed to win a trophy since their 2008 triumph in this tournament under Juande Ramos; since then, they have made it to the finals three times without success.

They have had possibly the most difficult run of any team this season, but just making it this far is a significant improvement over their performances in the previous two seasons, when they lost in the second and third rounds, respectively.

Spurs are currently within striking distance of a seventh EFL Cup title, having eliminated both Manchester teams on their way here, including United in the most recent round in a nail-biter (4-3).

However, Liverpool, who have dominated this tournament in previous years and are now leading the Premier League, are standing in their way.

With their 2022 and 2024 victories against Chelsea, Liverpool now has ten EFL Cup victories. To go to the final once more, they will need to defeat one or maybe two London rivals since Arsenal is also still in the running.

While Spurs have had a rough run, Liverpool have had to face Premier League teams in every round. In round three, they thrashed West Ham, and in subsequent rounds, they edged out Brighton and Southampton in tight contests.

Following a pair of consecutive home draws, the most recent victory against Southampton began a four-game winning streak; however, that streak was abruptly stopped last weekend by a rejuvenated Manchester United, who drew 2-2 away at Anfield.

Even though Liverpool only managed a single point, they managed to hold onto a six-point advantage at the top thanks to Arsenal's defeat against Brighton.

With 19 games remaining, Liverpool has a great chance of winning the Premier League for the second time in five years if they can continue to play like they did in the first half. They now sit on 92 points.

Tottenham Hotspur x Liverpool Team News

The injury and sickness situation confronting Spurs manager Ancelotti is immense; he may be without almost his whole defense for this match.

In addition to Radu Dragusin and Archie Gray, Destiny Udogie joined Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, and Ben Davies on the sidelines last week due to a hamstring ailment.

Despite this, Spurs were without backup goalkeeper Fraser Forster owing to sickness, forcing Brandon Austin to fill in for Guglielmo Vicario over the weekend. However, this may all be temporary, as the arrival of the talented Antonin Kinsky of the Czech Republic might solve this issue.

Injuries and illnesses have sidelined Richarlison, Mikey Moore, and Wilson Odobert as well. However, Rodrigo Bentancur will be able to return to the midfield after serving a ban.

Slot, who has gone 16 games without a loss on the road, may think he can play a little better than in prior rounds since the next Premier League match isn't until next week in the middle of the week.

Joe Gomez is still out with a hamstring injury, but Dominik Szoboszlai might make a comeback from sickness.

Young players like Jarell Quansah and Harvey Elliott are vying for playing time in the starting lineups of Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, who have both been rested during the EFL Cup campaign and may once again get that opportunity.

In place of Trent Alexander-Arnold, whose embarrassing display against Manchester United at the weekend garnered a lot of attention, Conor Bradley, who has been out for over two months, should start.

Our predictions

Liverpool to win @ 1.72 on Sky247.ng

Given the home team's defensive injury issue, another high-scoring Spurs match might be on the horizon after last week's nail-biter that ended in a nine-goal thriller.

Despite playing a lot of different players in their three EFL Cup games so far, Liverpool has scored ten goals. They will be confident in their ability to establish a dominant position before next month's second leg, even if they make a lot of changes.

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