Izzy Christiansen
England and Everton midfielder on BBC Radio 5 Live

I think it's poised quite precariously at the moment [at Arsenal].

I really like Mikel Arteta and how he is vocal about his values and non-negotiables. The way he has dealt with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been impressive.

As a player, if you're invested in the process, whatever the manager says you do and you act on those non-negotiables every single day.

I think Arteta is not afraid - it's a matter of authority for him. They are on a journey and the performance against Manchester City was so good but keeping that belief is so integral for how they want to move forward.

This competition is Arsenal's only chance of winning a trophy this season after that loss to Nottingham Forest at the weekend in the FA Cup.

After a season out of continental competition, winning the Carabao Cup would also take the Gunners back into Europe, albeit into the third tier Europa Conference League, not the Champions League.

But they of course could still finish in the top four of the Premier League to get back into the Champions League and currently sit fifth, despite a horror start that left them without a goal or a point from their opening three Premier League games.

Dion Dublin
on BBC Radio 5 Live

They're going the right way Arsenal. I believe with a couple of new signings they can be on their way to being the force they were many, many years ago.

The way they played against Nottingham Forest was poor, it was kind of embarrassing. However, is that the manager's fault?

He's trying to put the right boundaries down for the players. If the players don't perform and the body language is poor it can't always be down to the manager.

Image source, Getty Images

• R2: 25 August, West Brom 0-6 Arsenal (Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 3, Nicolas Pepe, Bukayo Saka, Alexandre Lacazette)
• R3: 22 September, Arsenal 3-0 AFC Wimbledon (Alexandre Lacazette, Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah)
• L16: 26 October, Arsenal 2-0 Leeds United (Calum Chambers, Eddie Nketiah)
• QF: 21 December, Arsenal 5-1 Sunderland (Eddie Nketiah 3, Nicolas Pepe, Charlie Patino)

Image source, Getty Images

• R3: 21 September, Norwich City 0-3 Liverpool (Takumi Minamino 2, Divock Origi)
• L16: 27 October, Preston North End 0-2 Liverpool (Takumi Minamino, Divock Origi)
• QF: 22 December, Liverpool 3-3 Leicester City (5-4 on pens) (Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Diogo Jota, Takumi Minamino)

Richard Browne: Not sure if I'm happy or not about that Liverpool team sheet; first time Klopp has named a team to win this tournament ever; is that our ambition this year?

Khan Karn: I know it’s a big shout but I’d have liked to have seen Ox start ahead of Hendo, who has looked tired and out of form lately. Otherwise very happy with that line up.

Charlie Willis: Arsenal very hard done by with the teams as Liverpool have an almost full-strength squad with us nowhere near that. Got to ask, how is that fair?

The winners of this two-legged semi-final will take on Chelsea in the Wembley final on 27 February after Thomas Tuchel's side beat Tottenham yesterday 1-0 to seal a 3-0 aggregate success.

Have a listen to all the reaction from that match with 5 Live's Football Daily in the link below.

You know your squad is being stretched when numbers 58, 87, 82 and 65 are in action.

It's like an NFL game.

Press the play button at the top of this page now for all the build-up on BBC Radio 5 Live, before commentary at 19:45 GMT.

While the sides have named strong starting line-ups, there's not too much experience on the Arsenal bench with academy players Omari Hutchinson, Charlie Patino, Salah-Eddine Oulad and Mika Bireth named.

Patino, of course, scored in the 5-1 quarter-final win against Sunderland last month. But what a chance it could be for these youngsters if they get the call from the Arsenal boss later on this evening.

Arsenal have just tweeted, saying that midfielder Martin Odegaard is out because of Covid-19 with full-back Sead Kolasinac out with a hamstring problem.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp makes eight changes from his side's FA Cup third-round victory over Shrewsbury Town on Sunday.

Defender Trent Alexander-Arnold and goalkeeper Alisson return following their absences because of Covid, while Joel Matip, Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Takumi Minamino all also come back in.

Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita are at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Liverpool XI: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson, Milner, Henderson, Fabinho, Jota, Firmino, Minamino.

Subs: Kelleher, Konate, Gomez, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jones, Tsimikas, Gordon, Williams, Morton.

Arsenal suffered an FA Cup third-round exit at the hands of Championship side Nottingham Forest on Sunday evening.

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta, who is without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe, Mohamed Elneny and Thomas Partey due to Afcon, names five changes from that defeat.

Aaron Ramsdale, Gabriel, Kieran Tierney, Granit Xhaka and Alexandre Lacazette start. Bernd Leno, Rob Holding, Nuno Tavares and Charlie Patino drop to the bench, but Martin Odegaard is absent after testing positive for Covid.

Arsenal XI: Ramsdale, Cedric, White, Gabriel, Tierney, Lokonga, Xhaka, Saka, Martinelli, Lacazette, Nketiah.

Subs: Leno, Holding, Mari, Chambers, Tavares, Patino, Salah-Eddine, Hutchinson, Biereth.

As always we want your thoughts on all the action so tweet us using #bbcfootball to have your say or text us on 81111 (UK only, standard mobile charges apply).

Liverpool have now lost home advantage for the second leg, which will be played in London on 20 January and Mikel Arteta has refused to criticise the decision to postpone the first leg.

"It's something that's not in our control," said the Gunners boss.

"The EFL is responsible to check every single player's status and make the decision whether the game is played or not. The decision was to postpone the match and I'm sure they had the right arguments to do so.

"We trust every test is going to be as reliable as possible. It is always going to be a percentage that might get the results wrong.

"First of all, you have to trust the people who do it, that it's done in the right way and we have the right equipment or the best possible equipment."

The match at Anfield was originally scheduled to be the second leg, but last week's tie at Emirates Stadium was rearranged after Liverpool had to close their training complex following a number of Covid cases, although some of them turned out to be false positives.

The EFL has said it will not be investigating the postponement and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said the matter was not of their own making.

"A false positive is a positive test," he said. "You get a test result back positive and, when you are able to do a retest a day, a day and a half later, you get a result that makes it look like a false positive because this test was a negative.

"It doesn't change anything for your quarantine but you need to prove it is wrong or right so you have to do a third test and between the first and second and second and third tests you cannot use the players."

Anfield under lights always looks pretty special.

Hello and welcome along to BBC Sport's coverage of the rearranged Carabao Cup semi-final first leg tie between Liverpool and Arsenal.

We've got you covered with live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, which you can access in this very page from 19:00 GMT with all the build-up before the game starts 45 minutes later.

There's always something special about a Liverpool v Arsenal match and the two meet in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.

It's at Anfield tonight with the second leg at Emirates Stadium coming next week as both sides aim to meet Chelsea at next month's Wembley final.

Image source, Getty Images