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Michael Owen has backed his former side Liverpool to beat Arsenal on Thursday night in the Carabao Cup semi-final. The former England striker believes the Gunners will keep possession, but the Reds will score on the counter.
Mikel Arteta's men and Liverpool head into the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final with all to play for. The two sides are currently locked at 0-0 and will fight to face Chelsea in the final at Wembley.
Speaking to BetVictor ahead of the semi-final, Owen admitted he was impressed by the Gunners' performance after they went down to 10 men in the first leg. The North London side held Liverpool to a goalless draw, but the former Reds striker believes that will not be the case tonight.
He said:
"I have to admit, I was impressed by Arsenal's performance last week. To play for so long with 10 men and to hold out was frankly, an un-Arsenal type result. Liverpool were impressive against Brentford and should have scored more than the three they did. Salah and Mane are obviously big misses, but [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain and [Diogo] Jota were bright throughout the game. I think they will have more of the ball, but Liverpool will cause a lot of problems on the break. 2-1 to Liverpool."
Mikel Arteta praises Arsenal players following Liverpool draw
Mikel Arteta praised his players last week following the 0-0 draw. The Spaniard believes they stepped up after Granit Xhaka's red card and worked hard at Anfield to earn the draw.
He said:
"We revel against the situation. The players showed great fight, determination, brotherhood. You saw the emotion, we never gave up. Credit to the boys. I don't know if the red card inspired them but it took the fight. You need a certain attitude to play in these games and the boys did that. We played the game we had to play, which is not our game... to plan with the numbers we have - we don't have any midfielders - becomes really complicated."
Liverpool defeated the North London outfit 3-0 when the two sides met at the Emirates last year in the Premier League. The Gunners' last win over Liverpool at home was back in 2020 when they edged out a 2-1 win. Notably, they are unbeaten against Liverpool in four of their last five EFL Cup games, winning three of them.
