The first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final between Arsenal and Liverpool has been postponed. Both teams should have faced each other at 8.45pm on Thursday evening at the Emirates Stadium, but Liverpool submitted a request to the EFL to postpone the game due to ‘an escalating number of corona cases’. That request was granted, meaning that the game will be made up on January 13.
“We would like to thank the EFL and Arsenal for their understanding,” Liverpool wrote via official channels. Liverpool is once again dealing with a corona outbreak. Manager Jürgen Klopp, Alisson Becker, Roberto Firmino and Joël Matip were already missing during the game against Chelsea (2-2) last Sunday. Partly because of this, Pepijn Lijnders was in charge of the Liverpool team at Stamford Bridge. However, the Dutchman also took a positive test in recent days.
As a result, the Lijnders press conference in the run-up to the match with Arsenal had already been canceled. Lijnders was not the only one within Liverpool to have tested positive within the selection and staff in recent days. Due to the corona outbreak, Liverpool has temporarily closed the training complex. This should stop the outbreak among the players and selection.
The corona outbreak is the reason that it was decided to request a postponement from the EFL for the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-final against Arsenal, because it was believed that a representative team could not be assembled. The EFL apparently agreed, so the game has been moved to January 13. A week after that game in the Emirates Stadium, the return to Anfield follows.
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