David Hytner was our man at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium tonight. His report has landed, and here it is. Thanks for reading this MBM. Stay safe and warm, everyone, and have a lovely Christmas. Nighty night!
Semi-final draw
Arsenal v Liverpool
Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur
Antonio Conte, who will be returning to his former club in the semis, delivers his verdict to Sky. “It’s good for Tottenham to reach the semi-final of this competition. You can see the name of the teams that reach this semi, it means every club wants to try to lift this trophy. I remember in the past, this trophy was used to play with young players, but now I’m seeing to win a trophy in England is very difficult. West Ham have beaten United and City. In England it is very difficult to win something!”
A disappointed David Moyes talks to Sky. “The players showed great determination and character. They put in a brilliant effort. In my mind, there was a couple of really poor bits of defending which gave them the opportunity to score. It was self-inflicted. We were unfortunate that a couple of big chances didn’t go in. It was a tough game and we let ourselves down on a couple of incidents in the first half, but overall the players did a great job.”
Arsenal v Liverpool
Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur
Ties to be played week commencing January 3, with the second leg coming a week later.
The draw. Jamie Redknapp and Michael Dawson will make it. Hopefully they’ll be a lot quicker - and prove significantly less inept - than the light-entertainment legends at Uefa. Here we go, then!
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are the four semi-finalists, then. Draw coming up soon!
PENS: Liverpool 5-4 Leicester. Jota has a chance to win it for Liverpool. He takes his time before slotting calmly into the bottom left. Liverpool, having been 0-2 and 1-3 down, are through to the semis! Caoimhin Kelleher and, despite his penalty miss, Takumi Minamino the heroes! Liverpool 3-3 Leicester City; Liverpool win 5-4 on pens.
PENS: Liverpool 4-4 Leicester. Bertrand has to wait an age for the ball. Eventually a new one arrives. Boos ring out around Anfield ... and they rock Bertrand, who rolls a poor effort towards the bottom right, Kelleher clawing away.
PENS: Liverpool 4-4 Leicester. Minamino, who scored that last-gasp equaliser, blazes over! The ball twangs off the top of the crossbar and out! What drama here!
PENS: Liverpool 4-4 Leicester. Iheanacho has to score to keep Leicester alive. He roofs a brilliant one. Can Schmeichel perform similar heroics?
PENS: Liverpool 4-3 Leicester. Keita goes high and left, and Schmeichel has no chance.
PENS: Liverpool 3-3 Leicester. Thomas goes for the bottom right, but doesn’t get enough pace on it. Kelleher guesses correctly and palms away from goal. Advantage Liverpool.
PENS: Liverpool 3-3 Leicester. Oxlade-Chamberlain takes a while to sort himself out. He eventually places the ball and whacks one into the bottom left. Schmeichel guesses correctly again, but can’t get there.
PENS: Liverpool 2-3 Leicester. Albrighton slams one down the middle, Kelleher diving out of the road.
PENS: Liverpool 2-2 Leicester. Firmino stutters and slots into the bottom right. Schmeichel guesses correctly but can’t reach.
PENS: Liverpool 1-2 Leicester. Maddison lashes one past Kelleher, high and down the middle.
PENS: Liverpool 1-1 Leicester. Milner whistles Liverpool’s first penalty into the bottom right, sending Schmeichel the wrong way.
PENS: Liverpool 0-1 Leicester. Tielemans whips an unstoppable one into the top left.
It’s full time at Anfield. Liverpool and Leicester City, with 11 League Cup titles between them, will take penalty kicks for a place in the semi-finals. Who’ll join Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur in the last four? We’ll find out in short order. Liverpool 3-3 Leicester City.
Liverpool have equalised in the fifth minute of stoppage time at Anfield! Takumi Minamino gets on the end of James Milner’s hail-mary pass, and volleys into the corner. It looks as though it’ll be penalties, unless there’s even more drama coming up. Liverpool 3-3 Leicester City.
Chelsea are the third team from London in the semi-final draw. They’ve beaten Brentford with a couple of late goals. Brentford 0-2 Chelsea.
... West Ham’s dreams fade and die. Areola comes up for the corner, and even wins a header, but Lloris snaffles it, and that is that. Spurs are through to the semi-finals!
90 min +3: Fornals jinks down the inside-right channel and takes a pop from just inside the box. The ball takes a deflection and loops hysterically over Lloris ... but onto the bar and out for a corner. From which ...
90 min +2: West Ham can’t get anything going, Spurs closing all the gaps.
90 min +1: The Spurs fans are giving it plenty. So close to the semis now.
90 min: David Moyes isn’t happy with Tottenham’s unwillingness to restart the game quickly, and complains to the fourth official. His team will only have three extra minutes to save themselves.
89 min: Hojbjerg has a little sit down for a while. Some sly clock management.
88 min: West Ham are knocking it around nicely, but there are no gaps emerging in the Spurs defence. After a while, the Spurs press pushes the Hammers all the way back to their own box. Time ticks on.
86 min: West Ham have enjoyed 89 percent possession in the last ten minutes. Spurs are unquestionably in hold-what-you’ve-got mode.
85 min: Out west, Jorginho makes it two for Chelsea from the spot, Alvaro Fernandez having taken down Christian Pulisic. Brentford 0-2 Chelsea.
84 min: Rice dribbles down the inside-left channel and forces a corner. Fornals takes. The ball breaks to Benrahma, whose shot is immediately blocked. Yarmolenko loops in a cross from the right. Spurs get it clear. The hosts are holding on a bit now.
83 min: Spurs swap Reguilon and Doherty for Royal and Tanganga.
81 min: Chelsea have taken the lead at Brentford, Pontus Jansson slicing Reece James’ low right-wing into his own net. Brentford 0-1 Chelsea.
80 min: Ashby, who has put in a decent shift down the right flank, is replaced by Yarmolenko, who immediately gets involved. He rolls a pass in from the right for Benrahma, who takes a touch to tee himself up and creams a low diagonal shot across Lloris and inches wide of the left-hand post. What a goal that would have been!
79 min: Soucek swings one in from the right. The ball flies through to Masuaku, who delivers from the left. Spurs half clear. Benrahma has another look from 25 yards, and sends one straight down Lloris’s throat. West Ham are edging a little closer, though.
77 min: Skipp is replaced by Alli.
76 min: West Ham push Spurs back a little, the home team not helping themselves by giving the ball away cheaply a couple of times. Spurs restrict Benrahma to a speculative drive, but this is better from the visitors.
74 min: Kane latches onto a loose ball, 40 yards from goal. He romps towards the West Ham box, with options either side and West Ham light at the back. He slips infield for Son, who is clear in the box! But he takes an uncharacteristically heavy touch, allowing the ball to run through to Areola. What a chance that was to effectively close this out. West Ham breathe again.
72 min: Liverpool have closed the gap at Anfield again. Takumi Minamino plays Diogo Jota into the box with a reverse pass down the inside-left channel, and the in-form Portuguese striker makes no mistake. Liverpool 2-3 Leicester City.
70 min: Dawson clips Kane’s heel. Kane sits on the grass and moans a lot, then takes an age to put his boot back on. A masterclass in running down the clock.
69 min: West Ham make a double change. Lanzini and Vlasic are replaced by Benrahma and Fornals. Benrahma is immediately in the thick of the action, taking down Ashby’s right-wing cross, swivelling, and hoicking over the bar from 12 yards. He probably should have laid off to Fornals, though you can’t really criticise a striker for taking that on.
67 min: Reguilon stands one up from the left. Skipp battles to get a head on the ball, six yards from goal, but is crowded out. Only just. Spurs so close to what would surely be a clincher.
66 min: Both teams take turns to pass the ball around in the centre of the park. Neither achieve much, though Spurs are 120 seconds closer to the semi-final draw.
64 min: Doherty, Son and Skipp combine crisply down the right. They don’t quite manage to open West Ham up, but they paint some pretty triangles, and the crowd enjoy the passage of play. It’s not taken Conte long to get a tune out of Spurs, has it.
62 min: Son’s first act is to slip a pass down the right for Doherty, whose cross is blocked at close range by Masuaku. Doherty wants the penalty, but he’s not getting one, the ball having clanked into Masuaku’s chest before skimming off his arm. There’s no way that’s a penalty, though Conte doesn’t share that opinion, and dances around the dugout in disgust.