Marco Silva is seeking to information Fulham to the Carabao Cup closing, however they need to first overturn a 2-1 deficit towards Liverpool at Craven Cottage on Wednesday night time.
The Portuguese has revealed final season’s embarrassing Carabao Cup exit to Crawley has spurred Fulham on to the semi-finals this yr.
The Cottagers host Liverpool on Wednesday night time trailing 2-1 on mixture as they intention to succeed in a primary main home cup closing since 1975.
Silva’s facet led at Anfield within the first leg earlier than conceding twice in three minutes to seek out themselves because the underdogs to succeed in Wembley.
This season’s cup journey is a far cry from their 2-0 loss to Crawley within the second spherical final August, the place Silva made 10 modifications from their earlier Premier League recreation.
“My ambition is to always play cup competitions and go further,” Silva mentioned on the eve of the tie.
“Final season we have been promoted and we performed within the quarter-final of the FA Cup and our intention was all the time to go additional – in fact it is necessary to recognise that the Premier League was the primary factor.
“But at the same time, when we played the other competitions we were trying to be strong enough – the first game in the Carabao was really poor last season.
“It was a very good second to talk with the gamers about what I demand from them and what we demand from any competitions that you just play sooner or later.”
Silva has taken cost of 229 video games in England throughout spells at Hull, Watford, Everton and Fulham.
The 46-year-old additionally reached the Greek Cup closing with Olympiakos in 2016, having received the Taca de Portugal with Sporting the season earlier than.
However he admits the go to of Liverpool and the potential for a primary recreation as a supervisor at Wembley means this is among the largest nights of his managerial profession in England.
“It is one of them, yes,” he replied. “I did play a [League Cup] semi-final with Hull City as well against Manchester United but, if you ask me right now, I would prefer to have another more important one in one month’s time or two months’ time.”
Lijnders: Taking part in finals is an important factor for a crew to develop
As for Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp’s facet are prone to be with out Mohamed Salah till the center of subsequent month regardless of the consequence of his rehabilitation, though there’s extra constructive information on the membership’s lengthy record of absentees.
Left-back Andy Robertson, who has been sidelined with a dislocated shoulder since October, is within the squad as Liverpool look to e-book their place at Wembley.
Not prepared for this recreation, however in all probability for the weekend, are Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominik Szoboszlai, with Kostas Tsimikas one other two weeks away from recovering absolutely from a damaged collarbone.
However it’s Robertson’s long-awaited return which can be a giant enhance.
“Robbo is now 13 weeks after surgery and he got clearance to train fully with the team, can make contact as the bone has healed and that’s really cool,” mentioned assistant supervisor Pep Lijnders.
“I just met him in the canteen and he said, ‘Pep, I’ve brought my tracksuit with me today’. He only trained once, but he is pushing himself into the squad.
“Medical crew say it is a teaching determination – so he is in.”
Liverpool just need to avoid defeat at Craven Cottage to book a return to Wembley two years after they won a domestic cup double.
“Taking part in finals is an important factor for a crew to develop. Taking part in in a semi-final in January is nice and with the ability to attain Wembley is unbelievable,” said Ljnders.
“All this stuff have an effect on improvement.”
Why Klopp is Liverpool’s best performer this season
Salah has essentially the most aim involvements. Virgil van Dijk is again to his imperious finest. Alisson is once more in rivalry for the golden glove and Alexander-Arnold is excelling in his hybrid function.
However maybe essentially the most spectacular performances for Liverpool this season have come from their supervisor, Jurgen Klopp…
Final day out at Anfield…
The important thing Carabao Cup semi-final numbers
- Liverpool have progressed to the ultimate on eight of the 9 earlier events they’ve received the primary leg of their EFL Cup semi-final tie. The exception was in 1997-98, being eradicated by Middlesbrough after successful the primary leg at Anfield 2-1.
- Fulham are winless of their final 5 dwelling video games towards Liverpool (D2 L3) since a 1-0 win within the Premier League in December 2011.
- In the event that they qualify, Fulham could be the thirty seventh totally different crew to succeed in the EFL Cup closing, and first maiden finalists since Bradford and Swansea in 2012-13. Solely 25 per cent of groups to lose the primary leg of a semi-final tie have reached the ultimate (23/92).
- If Liverpool keep away from defeat they are going to attain the EFL Cup closing for a document 14th time, at the least 4 greater than some other facet. The Reds have conceded in all 4 of their wins within the competitors this season – the final crew to win extra consecutively with out maintaining a clear sheet have been Tottenham (6 between the 2007-08 semi-final second leg and 2008-09 semi-final first leg).
- As a Premier League facet, Fulham have received six of their final seven EFL Cup dwelling video games (D1), with their final such defeat coming towards Bolton in September 2007 (1-2).
- Liverpool have received simply two of their final 10 EFL Cup video games performed in London (D3 L5), beating Chelsea 2-0 in November 2011 and Arsenal 2-0 in January 2022.
- Fulham have opened the scoring in all 5 of their EFL Cup video games this season. Willian put them 1-0 forward within the first leg towards Liverpool – solely two gamers have scored in each legs of a League Cup semi-final tie towards the Reds, with John Robertson (Nottingham Forest, 1979-80) and Paul Merson (Middlesbrough, 1997-98) doing so.
- Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez has been concerned in 5 objectives in six appearances within the EFL Cup (1 aim, 4 assists), averaging a aim or help each 59 minutes. No participant has extra assists within the competitors this season than the Uruguayan (3), together with two as a sub within the first leg towards Fulham.
comply with
Don’t forget that you would be able to watch Fulham vs Liverpool within the Carabao Cup stay on Sky Sports activities Soccer and Foremost Occasion from 7pm on Wednesday night time, with kick-off at 8pm, whereas you may as well comply with the sport through our minute-by-minute match weblog on each the Sky Sports activities app and web site, with in-game clips and objectives as they go in from Craven Cottage.