Young Ben Woodburn grabs the headlines as Divock Origi blinks gently on the radar, while Hull City somehow struggle through on a night of delayed drama in the EFL Cup quarter-finals. Here’s how it all (eventually) happened.
Liverpool 2 Leeds United 0
Ben Woodburn’s (4.5) record-breaking strike put a positive spin on a night that was otherwise all about what Liverpool didn’t do.
Jurgen Klopp didn’t field a host of stars, those first teamers that were risked didn’t add to the club’s growing injury list and the Reds didn’t lose despite Leeds giving as good as they got for much of the match.
Woodburn, at 17 years and 45 days, became Liverpool’s youngest every goalscorer when he fired home from a Georginio Wijnaldum (7.5) assist. The goal, on 81 minutes, sealed the deal on the night but flattered the hosts immensely.
They had allowed Leeds plenty of chances by then and had only opened the scoring five minutes earlier when Divock Origi (6.5) poked in a Trent Alexander-Arnold (4.4) cross.
The young Belgian striker seems to have hit form at just the right time. Having broken his league duck after coming on as a substitute in the weekend win over Sunderland, he could be in line for a first league start in Sunday’s trip to Bournemouth unless Daniel Sturridge (9.8) shakes off a calf problem.
Only Wijnaldum, Sadio Mane (9.2) and Emre Can (4.8) kept their places from the Sunderland match and all three look almost certain to start again at the weekend, with 19.0% of Fantasy Premier League managers also hoping Roberto Firmino (8.8) joins them.
The Brazilian wasn’t considered against Leeds as he continues to recover from a calf injury and with the parlous state of Liverpool’s midfield resources at the moment, it was perhaps surprising that Mane was risked as well.
Then again, the Senegalese international will spend much of January at the Africa Cup of Nations, so Klopp might well be getting every single penny of his money’s worth out of Mane until then.
Looking ahead, Liverpool will now play their semi-final first leg prior to Gameweek 21 which presents them with the trip to Manchester United.
Meanwhile, the second leg will fall prior to an Anfield meeting with Chelsea in Gameweek 23.
That would suggest that Klopp is unlikely to take any risks with this teamsheets for those ties, hopefully limiting the rest and rotation risk – although much will depend on the fate of the last four draw.
Liverpool XI: Mignolet, Alexander-Arnold, Lucas, Klavan, Moreno, Ejaria (Milner 82), Stewart (Woodburn 67), Can, Mané, Origi, Wijnaldum.
Subs not used: Karius, Clyne, Lovren, Henderson, Grujic.
Hull City 1 Newcastle United 1 (Hull win 3-1 on penalties aet)
There’s a strong case for Newcastle United replacing Hull City in the Premier League next season, and the visitors certainly looked like the top-flight outfit for vast swathes of this cup tie.
Mike Phelan’s men were out-shot 32-12 (although that figure included penalties) and had to make do with just 39% possession on a night when a sparse crowd had to wait a long time for anything to actually happen.
Eighty-nine minutes to be precise, as it was then that Dieumerci Mbokani (5.5) was sent off for an attempted headbutt.
The Congolese striker, who will now miss Hull’s next three league matches, was one of just five players retained from the team that drew with West Brom. Among them was Robert Snodgrass (5.6) who, with 5.1% ownership, is the side’s most popular outfield asset among FPL managers.
He equalised for the hosts in extra time from a Markus Henriksen (5.1) rebound before second-choice keeper Eldin Jakupovic (4.0), without a league start since Gameweek 5 but still found in 19.1% of squads, saved two penalties as Newcastle collapsed in the shoot-out.
Hull have now made the EFL Cup semi-finals for the first time in their history. They are considerably more familiar with relegation and this performance, if not the result, was another reminder of why.
They will face a first leg semi-final prior to the Gameweek 21 league encounter with Bournemouth, with the second leg falling prior to a trip to Manchester United in Gameweek 23.
In the short-term, Phelan must take his side to visit a confident Middlesbrough side with woefully limited options in attack. With Mbokani suspended and both Abel Hernandez (£5.5m) and Will Keane (£4.5m) sidelined through injury, the Tigers boss seems limited to Adama Diomande (£4.6m) as an option.
The smart money has to be on a Boro clean sheet in Gameweek 14.
Hull City XI: Jakupovic, Elmohamady (Weir 79), Maguire, Dawson, Robertson (Tymon 79), Huddlestone, Livermore (Henriksen 79), Meyler, Snodgrass, Mbokani, Diomande.
Subs not used: Davies, Marshall, Bowen, Olley.
