The Fall of the Giants

Liverpool's defeat to Tottenham marked their first loss after 24 unbeaten matches across all competitions. While this defeat is not catastrophic, it serves as a wake-up call to manager Arne Slot and his players that they can still be beaten. The road to silverware will not be smooth if they continue to perform like they did against Tottenham.

Before this match, Spurs had been a huge disappointment with four consecutive games without a win. Meanwhile, Liverpool had been in strong form, remaining unbeaten in their last 24 matches. Most people expected a straightforward victory for the “Reds,” but things didn’t go as planned. Despite dominating most of the match, Liverpool failed to score and, as is often the case in football, conceded a goal late in the game, resulting in a 0-1 loss.

The match began with both teams adopting an open and attacking approach. Tottenham had the first opportunity in the 6th minute when Dragusin took a close-range shot, but Alisson reacted quickly to make a crucial save. In the 22nd minute, Tottenham came close again with a cross from Son Heung-min, but Solanke couldn’t capitalize on the chance. Both sides continued to exchange opportunities, but the first half concluded with the scoreline locked at 0-0.

In the second half, Tottenham applied more pressure and created clearer chances. In the 76th minute, it looked like Tottenham had scored when Dominic Solanke netted the ball, but after a VAR review, the goal was disallowed for offside. Then, in the 86th minute, Solanke provided a brilliant assist to Lucas Bergvall, who didn't miss the opportunity, scoring with a precise shot into the bottom right corner to give Tottenham a 1-0 lead. Despite 7 minutes of added time, Liverpool could not break through Tottenham's solid defense, and goalkeeper Kinsky was outstanding in keeping them out. The match ended 1-0, giving Tottenham a slight advantage going into the second leg.

While Liverpool still has a chance to reach the final after their first-leg loss, Arsenal's hopes of making it to the Carabao Cup final are almost extinguished after they were defeated 2-0 at home by Newcastle.

On a night when Alexandre Isak sparked, Newcastle secured a 2-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates in the first leg of the semi-final. The game was decided in the final minutes of the first half and early in the second half, as Newcastle scored twice. In the 40th minute, Isak entered the penalty area and fired past the keeper to give Newcastle the lead. Five minutes after the break, in the 50th minute, the Arsenal net was breached again, this time by Gordon. Despite pushing forward in search of goals, Arsenal missed too many chances, and they were defeated 2-0 at home. To reach the final, Arsenal would need to win by a 3-goal margin at Newcastle in the second leg. This task seems nearly impossible for the "Gunners" against a high-flying Newcastle side.

The simultaneous defeats of two top teams in the Premier League standings were quite unexpected. However, this is one of the fascinating aspects of English football in cup competitions like the FA Cup and Carabao Cup—where the stronger teams don't always come out on top.