Carabao Cup: Arsenal survive Xhaka's latest act of stupidity to draw first leg 

Arsenal's Granit Xhaka sees the red card after a foul during the EFL Cup semi-final, first leg. Picture: AP Photo/Jon Super

Liverpool 0 Arsenal 0

Yet again Granit Xhaka was the villain of the piece in Arsenal eyes, his first half dismissal in this Carabao Cup semi-final first leg leaving his team to face Liverpool for well over an hour with 10 men.

But even though the ill disciplined Swiss international has added to Mikel Arteta’s personnel problems due to his imminent suspension, the Arsenal manager could draw great satisfaction from the draw, ahead of a weekend derby with Tottenham and next Thursday’s return left against Liverpool.

And a night of frustration for Jurgen Klopp was summed up in the final minute when Takumi Minamino blazed over an open goal from eight yards after Aaron Ramsdale had failed to deal with an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain cross.

After the dust settled on the furore stirred up by Liverpool’s request to postpone last week’s first leg meeting between the teams, it was fitting that both managers fielded what amounted to the strongest teams available to them.

The rarity of this, from a Liverpool viewpoint at least, was reflected in the fact that Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson thus made his debut in the competition while England full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold played his first Carabao Cup tie in five years.

What a change it made to see this competition played out between two elite Premier League teams treating the competition with respect and selecting their strongest possible teams.

Liverpool, of course, were under particular pressure to do so given that Klopp admitted last weekend that the original tie at the Emirates was eventually postponed due to a large number of what turned out to be false positive Covid-19 tests taken by his staff. There was possibly another motive for the managers to display such an attitude given what happened on their last meeting at this ground in November.

Liverpool ran out 4-0 winners on that occasion but the event was just as memorable for a furious, and aggressive, touchline argument between the two managers after Klopp accused his opposite number of trying to influence referee Michael Oliver to caution Sadio Mane after he had fouled Takehiro Tomiyasu.

Both managers were eventually booked themselves, and were suitably apologetic and reasonable in their explanation of what happened and the presence of Oliver again last night was a timely reminder for the duo to be on their best behaviour.

Not that Arteta could have any possible complaints when Oliver’s first significant act of the night was to show Xhaka a straight red card, the fifth of his Arsenal career, after 23 minutes.

Andy Robertson’s long, high ball caused Xhaka to retreat furiously and, as Diogo Jota beat him to it, the Swiss international desperately stuck out a boot that caught the Liverpool man in the stomach and sent him tumbling to the ground. Fortunately, for the Gunners, the incident took place just outside the area. But whether for denying a goalscoring opportunity or for violent conduct, it was a clear red and even though Alexander-Arnold succeeded only in planting the resulting free-kick directly into the Arsenal wall, the Gunners were in trouble.

They had already come under pressure and their defence was not helped by Cedric Soares injuring his hip in the first minute and being forced off after 11.

But Ramsdale’s poor clearance almost gifted Jordan Henderson an opener as the midfielder charged down his clearance and was unfortunate that the rebound ran away to a difficult angle and out of play.

A dangerous cross from Minamino was touched by Ben White and almost generated an own goal as it passed inches beyond the far post and, likewise, a Robertson shot took an unpredictable deflection off Albert Sambi Lokonga and flew wide.

The sending off forced Arteta into his third defensive formation of the night — five at the back, with White, substitute Rob Holding and Gabriel as his central defenders — and had the Gunners facing a long hour in the Anfield cauldron.

But the visitors weathered the inevitable storm that followed with relative comfort, at least until the interval, and a rare sortie to the opposite end of the field resulted in a Bukayo Saka shot which deflected off Joel Matip and could have flown anywhere before it went out for a corner.

The resolute Arsenal defending continued after the restart although there was an anxious moment when Ramsdale appeared to misjudge the flight of a dangerous looking Minamino cross that flew just wide.

But, all too often, Liverpool were limited to the sort of hopeful, speculative effort that saw Joel Matip clear the cross bar by several feet from 25 yards. By the time another dangerous, if rare, Arsenal sortie ended with a Saka shot being blocked by Matip in the Liverpool area, Klopp had seen enough and brought on Curtis Jones’ young legs to replace veteran James Milner in midfield.

Still neither side could muster a shot on target, as the 70-minute mark approached, although Minamino was the next to threaten as Robertson slipped through a pass and the Japanese international shot just wide.

When that first on-target effort did arrive, after 71 minutes, it was from the Gunners as Kieran Tierney’s cross picked out Saka who mis-controlled but still managed to force Alisson into a save as he blocked a scrambled effort.

LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson 7; Alexander-Arnold 5 (Williams 75, 5), Matip 5 (Gomez 75, 5), van Dijk 7, Robertson 8; Henderson 6, Fabinho 7 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 75, 5), Milner 5 (Jones 60, 6); Minamino 5, Firmino 6, Jota 7.

ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Ramsdale 5; Soares 4 (Chambers 11, 8), White 8, Gabriel 8, Tierney 7; Lokonga 6, Xhaka 4; Saka 7 (Tavares 80), Lacazette 7, Martinelli 6; Nketiah 5 (Holding 28, 5).

Referee: Michael Oliver 8