• Liverpool beat Southampton 2-1 to reach the last four of the Carabao Cup
  • Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott fired Liverpool ahead in the first half
  • Cameron Archer reduced the deficit after the break

By Talal osman 

Liverpool reached the semi-finals of this season's Carabao Cup as they beat Southampton 2-1 at St Mary's Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The defending champions made wholesale changes but still dominated the first half, taking a two-goal lead into the break courtesy of Darwin Nunez's composed finish and Harvey Elliott's deflected strike.

Cameron Archer's impressive strike set up a nervy final half-hour for the Reds but they just about held firm to secure passage into the last four again.

How the game unfolded

Southampton were behind after just 36 seconds during Sunday's humiliation that cost Russell Martin his job, but interim manager Simon Rusk oversaw a firmer start from the Saints as they initially restricted Liverpool with their deep five-man defence.

However, despite their resilience in the early stages, some sloppy defending allowed Liverpool to take the lead midway through the first half. Trent Alexander-Arnold's searching pass was sliced into the air by Jan Bednarek, with Nunez racing onto the loose ball before calmly sliding past the backtracking Alex McCarthy.

Southampton's confidence was evidently knocked by conceding the opener and Liverpool smelt blood, doubling their advantage just after the half-hour mark. Cody Gakpo picked out Elliott in the box following a sweeping move and the midfielder's low drive took a slight deflection on its way into the bottom corner.

Alexis Mac Allister came close to further tormenting a muted home crowd several minutes after Elliott added his name to the scoresheet, but McCarthy produced an impressive reaction stop to deny the Argentine midfielder.

Liverpool continued to dominate proceedings after the restart but Southampton were able to reduce the deficit just before the hour mark. A fortuitous deflection fell the way of Archer and the striker cut inside and curled an excellent effort beyond the helpless Caoimhin Kelleher from the edge of the box.

The Irish goalkeeper prevented Southampton from finding a quickfire equaliser, reacting swiftly to deny Archer a brace from close range. Jarell Quansah was on hand to produce a similarly important intervention moments later, lunging to block Mateus Fernandes' powerful effort.

Southampton pushed and pushed for an equaliser to take the game to a penalty shootout but failed to make good on some encouraging attacks, with impressive defending from Taylor Harwood-Bellis at the other end denying Federico Chiesa his first Liverpool goal in the dying embers.

Quansah was perhaps fortunate to avoid a red card in stoppage time after appearing to foul Fernandes as Liverpool's last man, with the Reds just about holding on to take a step closer to their first piece of silverware under Arne Slot.