Liverpool were held to a goalless draw in their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg with Arsenal.

The visitors had been reduced to 10 men midway through the first half after Granit Xhaka was sent off for poleaxing Diogo Jota at a counter attack.

But despite their advantage, Jurgen Klopp’s side failed to break the deadlock and will have it all to do in next week’s return leg at the Emirates Stadium.

Here were the key talking points from Anfield:

Reds fail to make advantages count

This should have been when Liverpool put one foot in the Carabao Cup final.

Despite the reversed order of the tie, Jurgen Klopp’s side were handed a golden chance to stake their claim for next month’s Wembley showpiece.

Everything seemed to line up for them, especially with Granit Xhaka’s first-half moment of recklessness enhancing an already blistering start from the hosts.

Yet the Reds head into next week’s return leg with it all to do after failing to seize home advantage in a game played largely against a 10-man Arsenal.

Granted, the visitors’ low block after Xhaka’s dismissal proved problematic but stubbornness is still no excuse for Liverpool lacking a serious cutting edge.

Just one of their 17 attempts found the target while Joel Matip’s emergence as the team’s most creative outlet underlined the severity of the situation.

So rare are Liverpool shutouts in front of home fans that Aaron Ramsdale is the first visiting goalkeeper since Manuel Neuer in 2019 to keep a clean sheet.

One of these teams will have a free weekend on February 27, with their Premier League meeting deferred as a result of this final four meeting.

Klopp can only hope that his toothless troops have not just condemned themselves to spending that Sunday afternoon watching from a distance.

Pressure tells in Minamino mishit

Until now, the Carabao Cup has been Takumi Minamino’s great salvation.

An Anfield career of relative struggle for the Japan international appeared to turn on his heroics in this season’s competition with a goal in every round.

His penchant for finding the target carried slight echoes of Ian Rush’s record which dictated that whenever he scored in a game, Liverpool invariably won.

But as the club’s all-time record goalscorer himself discovered, fittingly in the 1987 final against Thursday’s opponents, such logic does not always carry.

Minamino, too, finally came up short with an overzealous display which culminated with a gilt-edged miss in front of The Kop during stoppage time.

Not only did the forward spectacularly fluff his lines with the goal firmly at his mercy, he had also obscured Roberto Firmino’s path in the direct build-up.

Liverpool can ill afford further Minamino mishits, especially with Klopp counting on him to step up in Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah’s absences.

Fortunately for him, as the German said post-match, it is still only half time.

Maligned midfield slows its roll

A desire to control the midfield battle prompted Klopp to start James Milner in tandem with Jordan Henderson and Fabinho in Liverpool’s central trio.

That ideology, however, did not chime with the reality of a combination which struggled to impose itself on proceedings in breathtakingly poor fashion.

Henderson’s malaise shows no signs of abating while Milner resembled every inch of his 36 years in a clash which demanded a more energetic approach.

So limiting was the veteran’s contribution that Liverpool only started to move through the gears following his second-half departure in place of Curtis Jones.

Similarly Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, replacing Fabinho late on, provided the level of energy which Milner sorely lacked, even with his creativity lacking.

Fielding a balanced midfield line-up at the outset would have almost certainly improved the flow of this game more than Klopp’s unduly cautious approach.