After a narrow win over newly promoted AFC Bournemouth in the League Cup last night, Liverpool have found out their opponents for the quarter-finals of the competition and it’ll be a trip to St. Mary’s Stadium and a showdown with Southampton for Jurgen Klopp’s men during the last week of November.
Former Saint’s fullback Nathaniel Clyne was on hand to smash home his first goal in the famous red shirt after Joao Carlos Teixeira’s cheeky back-heel was cleared off the line and into the path of the maurading defender. Although the hosts dominated for much of the match, they failed to add to their tally, having to rely on Hungarian shot-stopper Adam Bogdan to save the day on a number of occasions as the Cherries pushed for the equalizer.
This is the third season on the hop that the Reds find themselves in the quarter-finals of this competition and they’ll do well to find their way through to the semi-finals yet again — Southampton, as we saw on Sunday, are more than worthy opponents.
Sadio Mane bagged the equalizer late in the game to make sure the Saint’s shared spoils with their hosts, but things were much more routine midweek as Ronald Koeman’s side bagged two second half goals to heap even more misery on mangerless Aston Villa. Maya Yoshida scored the opener just past the break and Graziano Pelle continued his good run of form to double their advantage before Scott Sinclair restored a semblance of pride for the Villains, stroking home from the spot in injury time after Jordan Ayew was fouled in the area.
It’s safe to say they’re going to find things a little harder when Liverpool come to town…
