Diogo Jota double sinks Arsenal and sends Liverpool into Carabao Cup final

Now you see him, now you don’t. Liverpool surged into the final of the Carabao Cup on a chilly evening in north London, and will face Chelsea at Wembley at the end of February. By then they will almost certainly have Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané to call on again, and so Diogo Jota will simply be able to retreat once more into the background, which is how you suspect he likes it. Jota is the sort of player you tend not to notice until the critical moment, which is exactly how he managed to hurt Arsenal here.

Jota popped up with an early goal to settle Liverpool’s nerves and a second late on to settle them again, both expertly assisted by Trent Alexander-Arnold. In between, however, the second leg of this semi-final was fiercely and evenly contested, as Arsenal threw everything at their last chance of a trophy in 2022 and Jürgen Klopp’s side mustered all their street-fighting experience to hold them at bay.

Ultimately Arsenal were just a little blunt when it mattered most. Ben White should have done better for the second goal. Alexander Lacazette squandered perhaps Arsenal’s best chance. And the right-back Takehiro Tomiyasu was rushed back from injury and given a torrid evening by Jota on a dewy, slippery surface.

Here, as against Brentford at the weekend, Jota started on the left. This is probably his best role: it allows him to get the ball in space, use his quick feet to cut inside and get shots away through heavy traffic. Not that there was very much traffic to speak of as he advanced on Aaron Ramsdale in the 19th minute to score the first goal of the tie. A gorgeous, flowing move had taken Liverpool the length of the field, from deep in their own territory to the edge of the penalty area, and left Arsenal temporarily