ANFIELD, LIVERPOOL — Liverpool host West Ham United on December 20 in the last of the quarterfinals in this season’s EFL Cup.
The tournament, called the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, will be the first major trophy on offer in the English season, with the final set for February 25, 2024.
Liverpool have won the competition a record nine times, most recently in 2022, and more success would underline their improvement in 2023/24 after a difficult previous season.
However, this quarterfinal will be far from straightforward. Jurgen Klopp is likely to field a rotated side given the Reds’ commitments in the league and Europa League this season, and West Ham may consider this an opportunity to claim a famous away win at Anfield.
That said, David Moyes’ team face Manchester United in the Premier League in three days’ time, so the Hammers boss will have to be careful when it comes to managing his players’ workload.
The Sporting News will be following the Liverpool vs. West Ham match live, providing score updates, commentary, and highlights as they happen.
MORE: Schedule and results from this season’s Carabao Cup
Liverpool vs West Ham live score
| 2nd Half | Goalscorers | |
| LIV | 1 | Szoboszlai (28′) |
| WHU | 0 |
Predicted lineups:
Liverpool (4-3-3, right to left): (4-3-3): Kelleher (GK) — Gomez, Quansah, Van Dijk, Tsimikas — Szoboszlai, Endo, Jones — Elliott, Nunez, Gakpo.
West Ham (4-2-3-1, right to left): Areola (GK) — Coufal, Mavropanos, Ogbonna, Johnson — Alvarez, Soucek — Kudus, Fornals, Benrahma — Bowen.
Liverpool vs West Ham live updates, highlights, and commentary
54th min: West Ham break rapidly down the Liverpool left, unleashing Bowen in behind for a low cross to the far post.
However, Tsimikas puts in a brilliant sliding interception to poke it out for a corner with Fornals waiting for a tap-in.
52nd min: Edson Alvarez catches Elliott with a late one on the touchline as Liverpool look to break and goes into the referee’s notebook.
49th min: Nunez shows good feet in the area before letting a shot go that Areola has to tip over the bar.
KICKOFF: LIVERPOOL RESTART THE GAME
HALFTIME: LIVERPOOL 1-0 WEST HAM
The whistle sounds and it is the hosts who head in with a lead thanks to Dominik Szoboszlai’s long-distance effort.
45th min: A huge chance for Gakpo goes begging!
The Dutchman meets an Elliott inswinging cross but heads it beyond the far post in attempting to place it in the corner.
36th min: Liverpool pushing for a second goal now and Szoboszlai goes close to getting a chance at a second only for a last-ditch challenge from Johnson ensuring Nunez’s pass into the box doesn’t reach him.
Jurgen Klopp’s side have been dominant here but they will want a cushion.
28th min: GOAL! SZOBOSZLAI GIVES LIVERPOOL THE LEAD!
Well, Liverpool haven’t quite taken the West Ham defence apart, but you don’t need to when you can shoot from distance like that.
Quansah pinches the ball high up the pitch and draws in a man before laying off to Szoboszlai, who unleashes a thunderbolt into the bottom corner from around 20 yards out on the right-hand side of the box. A fine finish.
Watch in UK
“Almost Cristiano Ronaldo-esque the way he hits the ball” 😍👌
Dominik Szoboszlai with a STUNNING strike for Liverpool 🔴 pic.twitter.com/PPh7lEjNGN
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) December 20, 2023
26th min: Liverpool still dominating possession but it feels telling that most of their atempts on goal have from outside or just inside the box. That’s been a theme of recent weeks – struggling to unlock opposition defences.
21st min: West Ham get a rare chance to attack but Kudus horribly miscues his shot after cutting in off the right and sends it out for a throw-in on the far side.
14th min: Elliott takes another pop at goal following a lovely back-to-front move from Liverpool, but again can’t find the target.
The hosts have started well here.
10th min: Harvey Elliott brings the ball forward from a central position and lets fly from just outside the box.
However, his low, bouncing efforts squeezes just past the far post with Fabianski beaten.
4th min: Van Dijk unleashes Szoboszlai with a quickly take free-kick but the Hungarian’s attempt from just outside the box is inadvertently blocked by the onrushing Nunez.
KICKOFF: WEST HAM GET US STARTED
5 mins to KO: Here come the players. David Moyes is aiming for a first victory at Anfield at the 21st attempt – will this be the team that gets it?
10 mins to KO: A reminder that there are an extra 7,000 fans inside Anfield again tonight after the top tier of the Anfield Road end was finally opened up. Will that additional noise help Liverpool over the line?
25 mins to KO: A wet and windy night on Merseyside but, fortunately for Jurgen Klopp, the conditions don’t seem to be too bad at pitch level. The German has previously described wind as “the enemy of football”.
45 mins to KO: So, six changes for both sides tonight, but it speaks to the depth of the two squads meeting here that the starting XIs they have put out still look incredibly strong.
Both will hope not to feel the consequences of this selection when they contest Premier League fixtures this weekend, but it is surely easier to brush off fatigue when you have just booked a place in a cup semi-final.
1 hour to KO: The team news is in! Check out the line-ups above or scroll down to see the full squads for each team.
1 hour 15 mins to KO: And how might West Ham line up for this one? Well, with his side going well in the Europa League and on the cusp of the European spots in the Premier League, David Moyes has a difficult balance to strike. There are also rumours circulating of illness running through the Hammers camp ahead of tonight’s tie.
1 hour 40 mins to KO: Some interesting news reaching us with 40 minutes to go until the teams are released. The Sporting News understands that Virgil van Dijk starts for Liverpool, which perhaps suggests that Jurgen Klopp will go stronger than many have anticipated.
2 hours to KO: Chelsea, Middlesbrough and Fulham have all secured their places in the semifinals of this season’s Carabao Cup. Will Liverpool or West Ham join them?
🏆🔢 Semi-Final draw numbers:
1⃣ @ChelseaFC
2⃣ @FulhamFC
3⃣ @Boro
4⃣ @LFC or @WestHam #EFL | #CarabaoCup https://t.co/TPjkH5WKyz— Carabao Cup (@Carabao_Cup) December 20, 2023
Liverpool vs West Ham lineups, team news
Liverpool boss Klopp makes six changes to his line-up but still goes with a strong-looking team with a semi-final on the line. Goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher comes in for his usual domestic cup appearance, while Joe Gomez, Harvey Elliott and Jarell Quansah are handed opportunities.
However, there are also plenty of players involved who you would expect to feature against Arsenal this Saurday, including Virgil van Dijk, Darwin Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai.
Liverpool projected lineup (4-3-3, right to left): Kelleher (GK) — Gomez, Quansah, Van Dijk, Tsimikas — Szoboszlai, Endo, Jones — Elliott, Nunez, Gakpo.
Liverpool subs (9): Adrian, Konate, Diaz, Salah, Clark, Gordon, McConnell, Alexander-Arnold, Bradley.
David Moyes, too, has opted to make six changes in the midst of a busy period, with the likes of James Ward-Prowse and Lucas Paqueta left on the bench.
But there are still starts for Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus in a team that certainly possesses sufficient firepower to pull off a shock win at Anfield.
West Ham projected lineup (4-3-3, right to left): Areola (GK) — Coufal, Mavropanos, Ogbonna, Johnson — Alvarez, Soucek — Kudus, Fornals, Benrahma — Bowen.
West Ham subs (9): Fabianski, Cresswell, Zouma, Ward-Prowse, Paqueta, Ings, Kehrer, Emerson, Mubama.
Liverpool vs West Ham live stream, TV channel
| TV channel | Streaming | |
| USA | — | ESPN+ |
| UK | Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football | Sky GO |
| Australia | beIN Sports 3 | beIN Sports Connect |
| Canada | — | DAZN Canada |
| India | — | — |
USA: This EFL Cup match from Anfield will be broadcast exclusive on ESPN’s premium streaming platform ESPN+ in the United States. ESPN has the rights to the entirety of the 2023/24 EFL Cup, placing all games on ESPN+ with only select matches chosen for broadcast on television.
UK: Wednesday’s match will be shown in the UK on Sky Sports platforms.
Canada: League Cup matches in Canada are exclusively broadcast by DAZN.
Australia: Australia’s League Cup rights-holder is beIN Sports, who will broadcast this on beIN Sports 2 as well as their streaming service beIN Sports Connect.
