Jürgen Klopp and Unai Emery rang the Carabao Cup changes and for once there were no complaints.
Liverpool and
Arsenal traded 10 goals that ranged from ugly to stunning and everything in between. They traded mistakes, terrible ones, and they traded blows from beginning to the very end. Only one penalty in a shootout separated them and, when an enthralling cup tie was all over, it was Liverpool celebrating a place in the quarter-finals.
Caoimhin Kelleher – Klopp’s third choice, 20-year-old goalkeeper – made the decisive save in an otherwise perfect shootout from Dani Ceballos as Arsenal paid the price for failing to defend a 3-1 lead, a 4-2 lead and a 5-4 lead in the dying seconds. Liverpool’s other telling contribution came from Divock Origi, who converted an injury‑time volley as a host of Arsenal defenders stood watching to spare the home side a first Anfield defeat in 13 months and send the tie to penalties. Curtis Jones converted Liverpool’s fifth and final penalty to punish Ceballos’s failure from 12 yards.