Arsenal escape Anfield with an unlikely draw in Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Liverpool

The most generous thing to be said about this game was that it leaves the tie nicely poised for the second leg in London next week. The football itself was wretched. One shot on target each and not a lot else in between.

Arsenal emerged with much credit given they played for more than an hour with ten men. Granit Xhaka was sent off for the fifth time in his Arsenal career in the 24th minute and from that point on Mikel Arteta’s sole objective was that his team should not lose.

Reverting to a back five that often resembled a back eight as Liverpool dominated play, Arsenal were organised and hard working and should take great heart. 

A ten-man Arsenal held Liverpool to a goalless draw in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg

Granit Xhaka was given his marching orders on 24 minutes for a challenge on Diogo Jota

The midfielder was shown a red card after denying the Reds a goalscoring opportunity

All the things they were in losing in the FA Cup at Nottingham Forest of the Championship on Sunday – weak, malleable, soft – they were not here and they can now feel they have moved on from that particular embarrassment.

The scale of Arsenal’s efforts at an increasingly disaffected Anfield should not be underplayed. They are weighed down heavily with injury and illness.

Equally their work can be measured by one simple statistic. Liverpool did not manage a single shot on target until very late in the game.

They levelled the scores on that particular scale at 1-1 and that said everything for the kind of game this was and everything for the sheer lack of entertainment on a cold Merseyside night.

In terms of a spectacle, a sending off rarely helps. The natural tendency when a team goes a man down is to retreat. It would take a brave and maybe rather stupid coach to do anything other than that against this Liverpool team. 

Xhaka pleaded his case but Michael Oliver was not messing around and gave him a straight red

Liverpool were finally on target with an effort from Curtis Jones in the 92nd minute

But the truth is that this was a bad game way before Xhaka left the field. Already by that stage we had seen the wild crosses, bad corners and comedic back passes that were to become such a feature of the evening.

Liverpool had more of the ball from the get-go. That was to be expected.

But apart from one low cross from Andrew Robertson that had been nipped off Roberto Firmino’s toe by Arsenal defender Ben White just before the quarter hour, they had not threatened when Andrew Robertson aimed a long through pass over the top to Diogo Jota ten minutes later.

There was no guarantee that Jota would have collected the ball as it dropped over his left shoulder. It’s a tough skill to execute. Nevertheless, Xhaka’s wild lunge up and in to his opponents’ ribs was dangerous and reckless – even if it was not malicious – and he had to go.

No Premier League player has ever been sent off as many times for his club as has the unfortunate Swiss and he will now miss Sunday’s derby at Tottenham – if it takes place – and next week’s second leg of this tie. It could yet prove a very costly challenge indeed.

Xhaka’s exit lifted the Liverpool crowd but not the team. Trent Alexander-Arnold drove the resulting free-kick in to the wall and the follow up was no better. It was typical of his night. On an evening of mystifyingly poor Liverpool performances, the right-back’s was arguably the worst.

Did Liverpool miss Mo Salah and Sadio Mane? Yes, who wouldn’t? For Klopp the duo’s participation in the African Cup of Nations cannot end quickly enough. 

Without Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, Liverpool’s attacking, including Takumi Minamino (pictured), looked lacklustre

Trent Alexander-Arnold (centre) fired the free kick straight into the wall after Xhaka’s red

But that does not explain this display. This was a misfire from front to back, a night when Liverpool looked a tired and uninspired team. All that Klopp can hope for is that there is not a repeat here against Brentford on Sunday in the Premier League or at the Emirates in six days.

Arsenal defended manfully as the night wore on while Liverpool threatened occasionally. Takumi Minamino drove a chance across goal and wide at the Kop End midway through the second half before Arsenal broke upfield to register their first attempt on goal in more than two and a half hours of football.

Having failed in this regard at Forest, they broke the spell in the 71st minute as Kieran Tierney crossed from the left and Virgil van Dijk seemed to misjudge the flight of the ball. This allowed Bukayo Saka to steal in and after his first touch brought the ball down, his second prodded it towards goal only for Alisson to save with his left knee. 

Aaron Ramsdale (pictured) back-peddled to save a curling effort from Takumi Minamino

It was a big chance on a largely barren night. Liverpool’s substitute Curtis Jones finally worked Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale with a curling shot as the home team found some late and rather overdue momentum. 

And then, in the very last minute of normal time, Minamino wasted an opportunity that will doubtless stay with him if Liverpool do not prevail next week.

Ramsdale came to collect a low cross in to the penalty area but couldn’t take it cleanly. The ball could have dropped anywhere but when it fell to Minamino he really had to score on the turn. But he didn’t. The ball landed in the Kop and a strange, empty night was complete. 

Cedric was forced off after just 11 minutes despite receiving treatments from the phyisios

Arsenal suffered another blow as Bukayo Saka went down and came off in the second half

Re-live how the action unfolded as Arsenal held Liverpool to a 0-0 draw in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg with ISABEL BALDWIN in our live blog below…