Winners and Losers: Liverpool (a) — Carabao Cup

For their second trip to Anfield of the season, Arsenal faced odds were firmly stacked against them. Jurgen Klopp had managed to dupe the EFL into postponing the match via thirteen COVID false positives, a hilariously unlikely phenomenon, which allowed them to field their strongest side without Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah. Emile Smith Rowe and Takehiro Tomiyasu sat out due to injury. Martin Odegaard tested positive for COVID, and not falsely. Twenty-four minutes in, Granit Xhaka earned yet another sending off. And yet, Mikel Arteta’s men held on for a vital 0-0 draw in the away leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal. Below are four Winners and two Losers from a courageous performance by the Gunners.

Winners

Benjamin White

A fair few names have been tossed around regarding who should be Arsenal’s next captain. Kieran Tierney is the fan favorite for the job. Aaron Ramsdale has had shouts. Martin Odegaard has also been mentioned. Even Gabriel earned a suggestion from supporters. But Benjamin White has inexplicably gone overlooked. This is despite almost always playing under Arteta, including in earlier stages of the FA and Carabao Cups. He is as critical a piece of Arsenal’s attack as he is for their defense. Today, he put in a commanding shift, marshaling the defense to a clean sheet at one of the most formidable grounds in all of football. He finished with 100% tackle success, despite not having Tomiyasu to his right to ease the burden. He also earned the honor of Man of the Match. After the referee blew for full time, White belted out to his congregating teammates, “This is what we f*****g do!” After looking like a focal point for his team for much of this season, White is beginning to look like its rightful captain as well.

Sambi Lokonga

The last time Sambi featured away to Liverpool, he put in a disappointing performance as Liverpool cruised to a 4-0 win. However, he redeemed himself on Thursday night, putting in a composed performance in a tough situation. Left alone to run the midfield after Xhaka’s red card, Sambi didn’t really put a foot wrong. After a couple misplaced passes early on, he contributed significantly to keeping Liverpool at bay. He offered security on the ball and made the most successful passes of any Arsenal player. Hopefully, the young Belgian has shaken off the rust, because he is Arsenal’s only remaining central midfielder heading into the North London Derby.

Calum Chambers

It has been a season to forget for Chambers. The English defender has found himself behind even Cedric in the pecking order at right-back since the beginning of the campaign. However, tonight presented an opportunity to impress, and he took it fairly well. After Cedric left Thursday’s match with injury, Chambers filled in and admirably covered the right side of Arsenal’s defense. The job may have been a little easier after Arsenal shifted to a back five, but the soon-to-be 27-year-old did it. Should Tomiyasu be unavailable for Sunday, the starting berth at right-back is likely Chamber’s.

Nuno Tavares

After Arteta subbed him off in the first half against Nottingham Forest, many concluded that Tavares’ Arsenal career may already be over. But on Thursday, Tavares reappeared, coming on as a substitute in the 81st minute. His assignment was simple: help Tierney cover the left flank and run the ball down the wing to waste time. It wasn’t glamorous, it wasn’t the most crucial role of the night. But Tavares’ mere return so soon after embarrassment demonstrates Arteta still trusts him. There is still a future at Arsenal for the young Portuguese full-back.

Losers

Granit Xhaka

Another match, another Xhaka red card. It’s honestly getting boring. Whether this latest one was his fault, whether there was anything else he could have done, or whether the red card was harsh could all be argued to death. But two things are certain: Xhaka has limitations in his game that opponents frequently exploit, and he has developed a reputation for making rash challenges. At a certain point, regardless of how much blame is fair to put on him and the strengths he possesses, enough is enough. The Swiss midfielder is a liability, and has been for years. He regularly costs his side. And any player who does that needs to go (as soon as there are other players in his position available).

Jurgen Klopp

It would be remarkably naive to believe anything other than that Klopp and Liverpool gamed the system with their supposed fake positives. They achieved what they needed to by convincing the collection of rubes known as the EFL to postpone this match. With the extra week afforded, all of Liverpool’s best players not currently at AFCON were able to return to action. Some of them had never featured in the Carabao Cup before because Klopp had not previously deemed the competition worthy of the effort. Better still, Arsenal lost more players to COVID and injury over the course of that same week. And yet, with everything coming up Milhouse, Klopp still could not overcome a practically ramshackle Arsenal starting eleven, and then ten men. There’s not much more you can do but point and laugh. He will probably turn up with a more determined Liverpool at the Emirates, but until then, he must be mortified. In times like these, that’s a fun thought.

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