Tottenham vs Liverpool LIVE SCORE: Trent DROPPED and new Spurs keeper Kinsky STARTS in Carabao Cup semi-final – latest

Ball or nothing

Speaking of overcoming, let's hope both players overcome one huge difficulty this evening.

The Carabao Cup football.

I jest, of course. It looks an absolute beauty and will no doubt be picked out the net on more than a few occasions later.

'Very, very hard'

Kostas Tsimikas is in from the start and told Liverpool's website that the side's aims this season are 'to win everything'.

But he knows they've got a difficult task of reaching Wembley by overcoming a 'very, very hard' opponent.

He said: "Always when we play against them it's really tough.

"We have to win both games if we want to be at Wembley. They have very, very talented players and they play really, really good football.

"It's a very, very hard opponent to play against, but this team showed many, many times that we are 100% focused.

"The team is clear: we want to win everything."

Same again?

Arne Slot was questioned on the possibility of tonight following a same pattern to the game between the sides recently.

Liverpool's 6-3 win showed the good - and the bad - of Tottenham and Slot reckons the identities are so clear that he predicts another exciting, open game.

He said: "I think what we expect before we go into the game is that two teams have such a clear identity and playing style, that is I think what most people expect to see tomorrow again as well.

"They have their identity, we have our own identity, and both teams trying to force that identity towards the other. Large parts of the away game two weeks ago, we could show our identity.

"But there were definitely also parts in the game where they showed how good of a team they are. Scoring three goals against us is also an accomplishment.

"I know we scored six in the game as well but scoring three against us, not many teams have done [that] until now."

Tournament odds

Oh, and Liverpool are the Evens favourites to lift the trophy next month, too.

After last night's comfortable win at the Emirates, the Reds are just shorter than Eddie Howe's Newcastle.

Carabao Cup Winner:

• Liverpool – 1/1
• Newcastle – 7/4
• Tottenham – 13/2
• Arsenal – 8/1

They're here

The Spurs players have arrived at the stadium with the likes of Son Heung-Min spotted in a video on the club's social media channels.

Ange Postecoglu is expected to name a strong side in the next few minutes.

Countdown is on!

Here we go then, we're about 90mins away from the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg between Tottenham and Liverpool.

Spurs will go into the game massive underdogs as they are in the middle of a rotten run of form that included Liverpool SMASHING them here 6-3 just before Christmas.

Team news is expected in about 30 minutes and but we'll be bringing you all the build-up as it happens.

Rash decision?

Melia isn't the only one on Tottenham's radar, with speculation mounting that Marcus Rashford is heading south.

Rashford, 27, has not played in any of the last six games for Manchester United and appears unwanted by Ruben Amorim.

A move to Tottenham would be a shock.

AC Milan are also interested in the England international.

Active Spurs

Yet more transfer news coming out of north London today, with SunSport's Tom Barclay revealing Celtic are rivalling spurs for Irish teenager Mason Melia.

Melia, 17, is being tracked by clubs across Europe.

You'll Never Walk Elon

You won't have missed this if you're a Liverpool fan... Elon Musk reportedly wants to buy the club.

The world's richest man appears to have ripped himself away from X for 10 minutes to become interested enough to buy the Reds.

Musk is worth around $340BILLION.

And his father, Errol, is the one who confirmed the surprising news.

Musk Sr was asked on Times Radio: "Does your son want to buy Liverpool Football Club?"

And Errol replied: "I can’t comment on that, they’ll raise the price!"

"Oh yes, [he has expressed a desire], but that doesn’t mean he’s buying it."

Errol was pushed further and asked if buying the Reds was "in his son's sights".

And Musk Sr didn't hold back, adding: "He would like to yes, obviously. Anybody would want to - so would I."

Will a final save Ange?

Jose Mourinho is living proof that reaching a cup final will not save you as Tottenham manager, writes Tom Barclay.

But how Ange Postecoglou could do with replicating the Portuguese’s showpiece feat to dampen any doubts over his suitability to the Spurs hotseat.

The Aussie has a chance to make up for what he admits is some “very poor league form” in the Carabao Cup semi-final against Liverpool, with the first leg at home on Wednesday.

If he can somehow find a way past Arne Slot’s imperious Reds over the two ties, he will be the first Spurs boss to reach a cup final since Mourinho four years ago.

That feat did not prevent the Special One from a shock axing just four days before the day out at Wembley, which Tottenham lost to Manchester City.

Unlike with Mourinho back then, chairman Daniel Levy is understood NOT to have lost faith with Postecoglou despite him losing half of his league games this term.

There is a hope that the ex-Celtic chief will turn things around once his horrific injury list eases up.

Read the full comment piece here:

More on Trent

Slot was asked whether he had spoke to Alexander-Arnold since Sunday and replied: "Yes, but I've spoken to other players individually as well, which you do after almost every other game.

"I spoke to him before the game and then, as I already said to everyone, things I talk to him about I do not share over here [with the media].

"It is normal you talk to players always; in this situation it wasn't his best game, so there were things I had to show which he has to improve.

"That's what you always do after every game. Sometimes you show how well they did, mostly when it comes to work-rate – you don't have to show a brilliant 80-yard pass because that they know.

"Sometimes you have to show them what they can improve, but I did not only do this with Trent.

"We were just talking about Macca and I think if you look at the second goal we conceded with the cut-back cross, if he sprints a bit harder he could prevent the shot from [Amad] Diallo as well.

"So, there are always things you can improve, but in general they've worked really hard and gave everything to get a result.

"Unfortunately, we were unable to get the best result but we still got a result."

Trent under pressure

Superstar defender Trent Alexander-Arnold came in for a lot of criticism for his performance on Sunday against Manchester United.

The right-back, who continues to be linked with a move away from Anfield was torn to shreds by the likes of Roy Keane and other pundits.

Slot was asked about the England star and said: "I think we were all disappointed – not only Trent, we were all disappointed – by the way we played [against Manchester United on Sunday].

"First of all, about the result. Parts of the game we could be quite satisfied with, other parts of our game we weren't completely happy with.

"That was not only Trent, there were more things in the game that we could have done better. Trent didn't play his best game, I've said it already, but that's not for the first time in his life he didn't play the best game of his career.

"He has played so, so, so many games well for this club. Now it wasn't his best – like for some others, it wasn't the best game for some others as well.

We just pick it up and start training again, because these players know if you play 50, 60 games in a season, once in a while you don't have your best performance.

"Maybe we should highlight more how good it is that these players are able to play every three days such a good game.

"And apart from the game maybe not being the best, it was again an eventful game from Liverpool.

"All the games we've played in the last six months – and maybe even longer when Jurgen [Klopp] was here – I got many text messages from people saying, 'What a game again!'

"Unbelievable what happened the last 10 minutes, both teams playing fully for a win. That is also part of our job I think, to make it an eventful game.

"That is what we are trying to do every game, mostly with a result or winning. Now it wasn't enough to win it, but it was definitely an interesting game for everyone to watch."