Liverpool kick off their 2026-27 League Cup campaign tonight when they welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Anfield, and of all the competitions the Reds find themselves involved in this season it remains as always the most difficult to get a real read on or ascribe potential value to.
No professional footballer and no fan ever wants to lose, but it’s a competition that always carries something of the vibe of one that you’d really not rather be in unless of you manage to win it all. In which case it suddenly
very much matters. And when the ref blows to kick off, well, again, nobody ever wants to lose.
“There is no doubt that we all left here disappointed after Saturday’s game with Fulham, but tonight is a chance to put in a strong performance and get back to winning ways,” Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk said in his pre-match notes—for a game most will expect him to be rested in.
“The Carabao Cup will always be an important competition for this club, and it has given us many wonderful memories down the years. It was the first trophy I lifted as captain, in 2024, and I will never forget that day, that game, as long as I live. We all want to go as far as we can in the competition this season.”
Whether or not Van Dijk does play tonight, if they go deep he will see the pitch—and if you get the chance to lift a trophy, it’s always worth celebrating. Still, if you do only make it to the quarter-final stage it doesn’t carry the prestige of doing similar in Europe or getting top four in the league.
Beyond the simple fact of wanting to win any and every match you play, though, it is also a chance to bounce back after a poor performance for the team in their nil-nil against Fulham. Or perhaps for a few fringe players to argue that they should have been given a chance in that league match and the games to come.
“Like I say, Saturday was disappointing,” Van Dijk added. “We didn’t reach the levels we wanted, and we were not happy with either the result or the performance. After a good win against Atletico Madrid a few days earlier, we wanted to follow that up against Fulham and that left us frustrated.
“We have to take the point and move on, though. We are still unbeaten this season, and that gives us a platform to build on if we can start turning draws into wins. At Liverpool, you are expected to perform every three days, and tonight we get the opportunity to get back out there and show our best side again.”
