Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur both tore up their Premier League line-ups for the Carabao Cup third-round meeting at Anfield, where the 8pm BST kick-off brought a very different feel to a fixture that has usually been wild. Liverpool kept only Ronald Araujo from the side that drew 0-0 with Fulham on Saturday, while Tottenham retained three players from the goalless draw with Everton.
Araujo, used at right back in that Fulham match, moved inside to partner Joe Gomez, who returned from his latest injury lay-off. Liverpool’s starting XI also included Mamardashvili, Frimpong, Kerkez, Nyoni, Mac Allister, Ngumoha, McConnell, Gakpo and Koumas, while Tottenham began with Dubravka, Gray, Tosin, Senesi, Udogie, Bentancur, Bergvall, Kudus, Gallagher, Tel and Marmoush. On the benches, Liverpool listed Alisson, Endo, Jacquet, Szoboszlai, Isak, Munoz, Barcola, Gravenberch and Chambers, and Tottenham had Kinsky, Robertson, van Hecke, Maddison, Savio, Fernandes, Solanke, Davies and van de Ven.
The search around the match also fixed on Andrew Robertson, who was named among Tottenham’s substitutes after 378 appearances for Liverpool. That detail sharpened a tie that already carried a built-in edge: Liverpool had not yet beaten an English team at Anfield this season, while Tottenham had gone four matches against top-flight opposition without scoring. The contrast mattered because recent meetings between these sides have often been anything but cautious, with five scorelines in the last four seasons including 5-1, 4-0, 3-6, 4-2 and 4-3, plus late equalisers, late winners, four red cards and one ugly VAR error.
That is why the line-ups felt more than routine rotation. Liverpool were still searching for a cleaner attacking night on home soil, Tottenham were carrying their own scoring drought, and both managers chose change rather than continuity to try to solve it. Robertson’s place on the bench left one obvious question hanging over the evening: whether the former Liverpool defender would get a first look against his old club before the night was out.
