Shoot!’s EFL Cup Awards (Quarter-Finals): Player, Team and Goal of the Round

With the fixtures spread across midweek as usual, Wednesday night saw the conclusion of the EFL Cup Quarter-Finals, as the competition gets really serious now, if it wasn’t already!

Tuesday night saw arguably the most eye-catching fixture of the round, as Liverpool saw off Championship outfit Leeds United with a 2-0 victory.

Liverpool goalscorer Ben Woodburn – Photo: Simon Stacpoole / Offside.

Also on Tuesday, the only other Championship side left in the competition, Newcastle United, made the trip to the KCOM stadium.

Despite being the bookies’ favourites, and going in front in extra-time, The Magpies were beaten by Hull City 3-1 on penalties.

Wednesday night saw a repeat of last-week’s Premier League fixture, as West Ham United played Manchester United at Old Trafford.

However, this time the Red Devils had no issues as they cruised into the fourth round without manager Jose Mourinho, with a 4-1 win under Rui Faria’s supervision.

Finally, maybe the most surprising result, two first-half goals from Jordy Clasie and Ryan Bertrand saw Southampton knock out Arsenal.

The draw for the semi-finals, which are played over two legs, will see Manchester United clash with Hull, and Liverpool face Southampton for a place in the final.

So, after the quarter-final games, here is Shoot!‘s Player, Team and Goal of the Round…

Player of the Round: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)

Photo: Simon Stacpoole / Offside.

Yep, another Liverpool player. As it’s been one of Jurgen Klopp’s Reds every round for the last three rounds.

However, it isn’t as big of a name as Coutinho or Sturridge on this occasion.

Alexander-Arnold, 17, is gathering a real hype around Anfield this season, his lightning-quick pace, good defensive awareness and exciting forward runs has rightfully earnt him a place in the first-team twice this season.

Albeit only in the cup so far, I’m sure he’ll make his mark in the Premier League very soon.

Despite Liverpool enjoying the lion’s share of possession throughout the game, Leeds enjoyed some good spells of pressure in the game, meaning Alexander-Arnold was called upon numerous times to stop the threat of Kemar Roofe, Hadi Sacko, Stuart Dallas and Souleymane Doukara. He did it with admirable control and calmness.

He’s a handful going forward too, as all modern-day full-backs need to be. His barnstorming runs down the right and good link-up play with the likes of Emre Can and Georginio Wijnaldum in midfield caused Leeds problems on plenty of occasions.

His performance was capped on 75 minutes when he grabbed himself an assist, crossing perfectly for Origi to turn in.

It may be his academy teammate Ben Woodburn who’s name you’ll see in the papers this week, but mark my words, this boy will go far.

Team of the Round: Southampton

Photo: Marc Atkins / Offside.

Rarely is there an opportunity for a ‘cup shock’ as we enter the latter stages of the competition, and seen as Leeds couldn’t provide it at Anfield, it looked unlikely that there’d be a real surprise result this time round, but there was a bit of an upset.

Southampton are far from mugs, but not many will have seen this coming despite Arsene Wenger making ten changes from the weekend.

Claude Puel himself made eight, and they paid off, as the Saints marched on and bagged themselves a place in the semi-finals.

Arsenal were unbeaten since their first day defeat to Liverpool, but that run came to an end as Jordy Clasie and Ryan Bertrand’s first-half goals were enough to see Southampton advance.

They went in front after less than quarter of an hour, Jordy Clasie hadn’t scored since arriving from Feyenoord last summer, but he’ll certainly remember his first for the Saints, and then not so long after Ryan Bertrand finished low into the corner with his left foot from inside the box, punishing Carl Jenkinson for a mistake in his defensive third.

On a bit of a dry night for the Gunners, Southampton defended fairly comfortably at most times and could’ve even added to the scoresheet further themselves.

Arsenal not at it on the night, and Southampton into the semis.

Goal of the Round: Jordy Clasie (Southampton)

Goals are somewhat of a rarity if you’re Dutch midfielder Jordy Clasie, his last one coming in April of 2015 while still in Holland with Feyenoord.

But he certainly helped make it a night to remember for both himself and Southampton’s travelling fans at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.

He opened the scoring for the Saints after just thirteen minutes, when Sofiane Boufal’s effort was blocked, but there was nothing anyone could do about the rebound coming in from the midfielder, as it fizzed into the back of the net past Emiliano Martinez.

A rasping effort, which set the tone for the night and silenced the Emirates.