Good day everyone,

I hope you are all well and having a great week after the league games last weekend, welcome to CryptoGod-1's blog on all things sports. Today we will be looking at the recent game in the Carabao Cup Semi-Final, and the four rearranged Premier League fixtures. The matches took place on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings, and produced some very thrilling and exciting encounters. If you would like to read my preview on the league games you can find it here: Premier League Postponed Games Week 2 Preview

My recent reports on the Carabao Cup Semi Finals can be found here: Semi-Final First Leg , Semi-Final Second Leg

Carabao Cup Semi Final Second Leg

Thursday 20th Jan 2022

Previous Result: Liverpool 0-0 Arsenal

Result: Arsenal 0-2 Liverpool - Liverpool win 2-0 on aggregate 

Line Ups:

Arsenal: 4-1-4-1

(GK) Ramsdale, (LB) Tierney, (RB) Tomiyasu, (CB) White, (CB) Magalhaes, (DM) Sambi-Lokonga, (CM) Smith-Rowe, (CM) Odegaard, (LW) Martinelli, (RW) Saka, (CF) Lacazette

Liverpool: 4-3-3

(GK) Kelleher, (LB) Robertson, (RB) Alexander-Arnold, (CB) Van Djik, (CB) Matip, (CM) Fabinho, (CM) Jones, (CM) Henderson, (LW) Jota, (RW) Gordon, (CF) Firmino

Goal Scorers:  Jota x2

After the stalemate in the first leg at Anfield and Arsenal's postponed North London Derby at the weekend, this match saw both teams fighting it out to face Chelsea at Wembley in the final. Arsenal certainly started brighter, with Matip giving away a free-kick on the edge on the area in the fourth minute. Lacazette struck the bar with his attempt, with Kelleher flying across the goal to get the slightest of touches on it. Liverpool grew into the game from there, and on fourteen minutes had a goal ruled out correctly for offside. Fabinho had gotten up to win a header from a corner and Matip tapped the ball in, but had strayed just offside first.  In the nineteenth minute Jota made a superb run after a ball from Alexander-Arnold in the middle of the park. Jota got past Tomiyasu with ease and ran inside, and with three Arsenal defenders around him the Portuguese managed to get a low shot past Ramsdale and take the lead in the tie. Liverpool proceeded to dominate the match from there, with Arsenal creating one chance through Martinelli only for Fabinho to make an excellent last ditch tackle in the box. The rest of the half had few chances of note, with Liverpool bringing on Konate for Matip at the break. Arsenal started the second half well, with Lacazette firing over the bar four minutes in. Six minutes into the second half and Gordon had a great chance in the box after Jota got past White, but the seventeen year old fired over. Liverpool once again began to dominate the match, with Konate almost scoring before the hour mark, jumping highest from a corner and his header striking the post. The game became end to end from there, with Alexander-Arnold proving a menace down the right hand side. Minamino, who came on for Gordon, had a great chance in the box box seventy minutes but couldn't get much power on his shot. In the seventy-seventh minute Jota latched onto a long ball from Alexander-Arnold, and looped the ball over the outrushing Ramsdale. After a VAR review for offside, the goal was given to double Liverpool's lead. The game was very much over then, with Liverpool controlling the match from there and Arsenal deflated. In the ninetieth minute Partley, who came on for Smith-Rowe in the seventy-fourth minute, got his second booking in quick succession to get a red card. Not too disimmilar to Gabriel against City, a needless booking for jumping in on Fabinho with his studs showing. After a hard fought two legged tie, Liverpool will face Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday, the 24th of February 2022, to contest the final of the Carabao Cup.

Premier League

So in terms of the predicted scores, I got 0/3 correct scores during this week of rearranged games. In terms of match-winner/loser, I only managed to predict 1/3 correctly.

Predicted: Brighton 2-2 Chelsea

Result: Brighton 1-1 Chelsea

Webster - Ziyech

The Seagulls started this game brightly, sending a shot just wide of Kepa's goal within three minutes. They certainly ensured they were not going to be outplayed by the European champions, and it took fourteen minutes for Chelsea to string together an effort on Brighton's goal. While it was a dull affair for the most part, out of nowhere a long range effort from Ziyech opened the scoring. It was a speculative shot at most, but Brighton's keeper Sanchez was caught out by it.  He managed to get a had to it but it wasn't enough, and the ball nestled into the bottom corner of the net at the near post. It was an interesting celebration from Ziyech, almost in a this is what I can do manner to his manager. Brighton had been lively and worked themselves into good positions but lacked the end product, which meant they ended the half without a shot on target. They finally managed to draw level on the hour mark, as Webster was unmarked and scored from a corner. Both sides continued to push on from there and tried for a winner, but the game ended all square. Chelsea missed the chance to go above Liverpool, while Brighton remain in ninth after another excellent result for the Seagulls. 

Predicted: Leicester 1-3 Tottenham

Result: Leicester 2-1 Tottenham

Daka, Maddison - Kane, Bergwijn x2

The fact that Tottenham had dominated the match before Leicester took the lead wasn't a surprise, its often how football goes. Tottenham were dominant, with Kane getting a shot off in the eight minute which had beaten Schmeichel but was cleared off the line by Thomas. Ten minutes later Kane was at it again, with the England captain getting his head onto a Winks cross and seeing the ball crash off the crossbar. Finally, the Foxes worked a move and got the ball to Lookman in the box on twenty-four minutes, who survived the challenge of Reguilon to poke the ball onto Daka. The young striker took his shot well and managed to sneak his effort past Lloris in the Spurs net to give Leicester the lead. On thirty-eight minutes Kane finally got his goal, with Winks playing a ball in behind for him. Kane skipped past Soyuncu in the penalty box and placed the ball into the bottom corner. Three minutes later and Kane was in again, after Moura played him through. This time he blazed over the bar, but Leicester were all over the place in defence. The half time stats were very interesting, with Leicester having five efforts and two on target even though they were a shambles at the back. Kane alone had seven shots, seeing two cleared off the line, while Spurs had fourteen with five on target! Leicester made no changes at the break, surprisingly after their lack of organisation in the first half. The second half was just as lively, with Tottenham having plenty of chances again. They managed plenty of crosses into the box, with Kane spurning a few efforts also. With fifteen minutes to go Maddison struck, after a delightful one-two with Barnes, and a deflection off Tanganga took the ball over Lloris and in off the post. The final ten minutes were somewhat tense and nervous for The Foxes, as Spurs pushed on looking for another equalizer. Breaks in play and substitutions helped to count the clock down, but it was Barnes who had the best chance for The Foxes in the ninetieth minute on the counter, only for Højbjerg to make a last ditch block. In the ninety-fifth minute Spurs broke Leicester hearts, with the ball going from Moura to Højbjerg, who plays a long ball into Doherty. He is tackled by Soyuncu but the ball falls kindly to Bergwijn who blasts it into the back of the net. Unbelievably, a minute later Tielemans gives the ball away from the kick off and Kane plays a beautiful ball to Bergwijn. The Dutchman takes the ball around Schmeichel and places it into the far corner of the goal. What an ending to the game, as Leicester were the cause of their own downfall. The result means Spurs are very much in the race for top four, moving above Arsenal and have the possibility to even make the top three with their three games in hand on Chelsea. Leicester will be heartbroken with that ending, and know they are not the team they were over the previous seasons. 

Predicted: Brentford 2-1 Man Utd

Result: Brentford 1-3 Man Utd

Toney - Elanga, Greenwood, Rashford

The Bees were so unfortunate to not have at leasy one goal by half time, as De Gea pulled off another master performance between the sticks for the Red Devils. Thomas Frank describe it after the match as, "I'm unbelievably proud of my team. We are the smallest club in the Premier League, Manchester United the biggest. We destroyed them in the first half, they didn't have a sniff, three huge chances and there could only have been one winner of this game. They are unbelievably lucky." He was not wrong, as United were very unconvincing for large amounts of the fixture. Jensen blasted wide from the edge of the box for Brentford within two minutes, and on thirteen minutes have a good effort saved by De Gea. On the half hour mark Janelt played a  long ball into Toney, who picked out the run of Jensen but De Gea stood strong to save his effort again. Ronaldo had a header graze the bar after the restart, and ten minutes into the second half Fred was able to cross for Elanga, who got ahead of Roerslev and finished to give United the lead. The second came from Greenwood seven minutes later, as Ronaldo chested the ball into Fernandes, who timed his pass perfectly for Greenwood to score. With thirteen minutes to go McTominay evaded a couple of Brentford challenges and played in Fernandes, who set up substitute Rashford for a precise finish into the roof of the net. The Bees have an unwanted run of form lately which has seen them concede 3+ goals in each of their previous three league games. Fred meanwhile has shown quite the upturn in form for United, being involved in four goals in his last seven league games.

I hope you found some enjoyment in my post and managed to see the matches. We have the league action returning on Friday night.

Have a great week.

Peace. CryptoGod-1.

Referral links:

Publish0x - https://www.publish0x.com/?a=olejZqrzej

Splinterlands - https://splinterlands.com?ref=rnabc1

Upland - r.upland.me/NQAH

Ecency - https://ecency.com/signup?referral=rnabc

Binance - https://accounts.binance.com/en/register?ref=143611368

Hi - https://hi.com/RNabc

NFT Market Sales

Opensea - https://opensea.io/RNabc

Follow Me :)

Twitter - @RNabc123