(Football news) The first leg semi-final clash between Liverpool and Arsenal finally took place at Anfield after a 7 day delay due to COVID-19. Jurgen Klopp selected a strong side against the Gunners with Roberto Firmino and Takumi Minamino featuring in attack as replacements for Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane who are representing their countries at the African Cup of Nations. Mikel Arteta started Eddie Nketiah up front while Cedric Soares featured at right back and Martin Odegaard was omitted from the squad after testing positive for coronavirus.

One of the biggest talking points of the match was Granit Xhaka receiving a red card from referee Michael Oliver just after 24 minutes after a reckless last-man tackle on Diogo Jota. A long ball by Andy Robertson found the run of Jota, who was met with a high boot to the chest by the Swiss international. Xhaka took to social media after the match to say “I want to apologise to everyone. I am proud of my team and the spirit they showed to keep a clean sheet tonight.”

With Liverpool having a fantastic home record, the fans at Anfield expected the side to blow the Gunners away after they were reduced to 10 men. However, the absence of Salah and Mane greatly reduced Liverpool’s attacking prowess and the hosts failed to test Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale with both Firmino and Minamino having minimal impact on the game. Arsenal arguably had the best opportunity of the match in the 72nd minute when Alexander Lacazette and Kieran Tierney combined to find Bukayo Saka who was denied by Allison. 

Speaking after the match, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said "For obvious reasons we had to change the line-up tonight. I really liked the way we started in the game. I saw absolutely everything I wanted to see in the beginning – we were front-footed in the right moments, and started the game like we wanted to start.

"Then after the red card we were playing against a low block, and against the most finely-tuned teams it's difficult. On top of that we made a few wrong decisions and looked rushed. It's a typical situation, you go to try and win something and in a second it can turn into a situation where you can lose. But we couldn't create enough for the situation we were in against 10 men. That's clear enough. But again this is a cup competition. It's a two-leg semi-final, it's half-time. At 0-0 Arsenal might be in a slightly better position, but we don't think this tie is over for us."

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta: "We certainly rebelled against the situation, which I expect from the players. I think they showed great fight, determination, attitude, and brotherhood. You could see the emotion they were playing with. They never gave up. It's extremely difficult to do it on this ground against this opponent. Credit to the boys. It's just the first leg but to do what we've done today, I think they deserve a lot of credit for that.

"I don't know if [the sending off] inspired them but we certainly took the fight. I said to them before the game that you have to have a certain attitude to play on this ground. In difficult moments, you have to act, but you can't be overreacting because then it becomes really complicated. I think the boys did that extremely well in certain moments. We played the game that we had to play, which is not our game, but we managed to do it."

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