Liverpool crushes West Ham, sets up semifinal versus Fulham

Liverpool dismantled and dominated a poor West Ham side on Wednesday to advance to the League Cup semifinals for the 19th time. A five-goal outburst with four players on the scoresheet took advantage of a leaky West Ham defense at Anfield. Jürgen Klopp’s side had the advantage in every statistical category on the night. For example, Liverpool fired 29 shots toward the West Ham net. Eleven of those were on target. By comparison, West Ham had a total of two shots, and it scored with its only chance on target.

Several of the goals in the game were good goals. Dominik Szoboszlai scored a stunner from 25 yards out in the first half to give Liverpool the lead. That was the difference at the break, which at least gave West Ham hope that it was still in the game.

Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo ended West Ham’s hopes in the first portion of the second half. Poor defending from West Ham on both goals was the theme of the night for the visitors. Despite Jarrod Bowen pulling one back for West Ham, two quick responses from Liverpool ended any thoughts of a comeback. The last of those was a solo effort from Curtis Jones that summed up West Ham’s performance. To add his second of the game, Jones went on a marauding run right through the West Ham midfield and defense before passing the ball away. Unlike two of the games on Tuesday, this game did not require penalties, and Liverpool advanced to the semifinals.

Liverpool draws Fulham, Chelsea to face Middlesbrough

We are less than a month away from the semifinals of the League Cup getting underway. Regardless, teams are already preparing to face opponents in a two-legged tie. While all of the previous rounds were one-legged ties with no extra time, each team will have a home and away game in the semifinals of the League Cup. Also, VAR is in action.

Liverpool will play another Premier League side in Fulham. The other matchup will be Chelsea against Middlesbrough. Remember, these are two-legged ties, with each team hosting one game.

However, this may set up a rematch of the 2021/22 League Cup Final, when Liverpool defeated Chelsea. Chelsea was a very different team at the time. Still, Fulham and Middlesbrough will see this as an opportunity to get to the League Cup final in February.