Trent Alexander-Arnold absence confirmed for EFL Cup semi-final as Arne Slot loses ‘advantage’

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has revealed Trent Alexander-Arnold will miss the League Cup semi-final second leg against Tottenham, and the “advantage” the Reds might have had has been taken by the scheduling.
The Reds lost the first leg of the semi-final late on. Lucas Bergvall turned the ball in in the 86th minute, not long after Liverpool felt he should have been given a second yellow for a foul which was not given.
The scheduling this season means that the Reds have played seven games in all competitions since the first leg, and in the last of those games, against Bournemouth, Alexander-Arnold was forced off late on.
Slot has confirmed that the injury sustained will keep him sidelined for the second leg: “He is going to miss tomorrow and we have to see if he can play Sunday but he is not available tomorrow.
“I think you saw he left the pitch with a bit of a pain in his leg, so that is why he misses tomorrow. He is already on the pitch with the rehab coach, let’s see how long it takes.”
Slot feels that Liverpool would have had an advantage had the second leg been closer to the first, as it has been in recent years, given Tottenham’s own injury problems.
“Now you tell me, you are right it is unusual [to have such a space between legs]. Not that it matters a lot but if you play one week later than normal you face the exact team again but with all the injuries Spurs had last time, it would have been an advantage for us but we still lost against the ones who were fit,” he said.
“We face two different players, I wonder if [Micky] Van de Ven can play, he has a big impact. So it might change the quality of the team and we already couldn’t win, so it will be difficult. But we will be better than the last time, too.”
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Indeed, in the previous leg, Van de Ven was the big absentee from the Tottenham side, while Richarlison was also out.
Van de Ven played 45 minutes two games ago, and could be back, while Richarlison is back in action, but has been replaced on the sidelines by Dominic Solanke, which is a bigger loss for Spurs.
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