The first legs of the Carabao Cup semi finals have been played. The teams that have made it this far in the tournament are Southampton, Nottingham Forest, Manchester United and Newcastle United. The matchups were set as Southampton vs Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United.
Southampton were at home in their first leg against Newcastle and they put up a serious fight against league high fliers Newcastle United. They ended up losing the game 1-0 after a goal from Joelinton secured the first leg advantage for the North East Side. Both teams had goals disallowed through VAR for handballs, Newcastle will be more aggrieved with their disallowed goal being very dubious and ex Newcastle player Adam Armstrong denied a dream match against his former club when his goal was ruled out for striking his arm. Caleta-Car received a late red card for Southampton and will miss the second leg tie after two yellow card offences. It will be difficult for Southampton to get back into this tie, not having an attacking threat against the team with the best defensive record in the Premier League.
Nottingham Forest hosted their first leg tie against in form Manchester United. The hosts would of been hoping for a quick start but that didn't go to plan when Marcus Rashford scored in the 6th minute of the game. A wonderful solo run down the left side of the pitch before finishing past the Forest keeper. Nottingham Forest came back into the game a created chances, Sam Surridge had the ball in the back of the net however it was ruled out for offside, it was close but it was the right decision. Wout Weghorst scored his first Manchester United goal just before half time and with Bruno Fernandez capping off a great United win late in the game its going to be a long way back for Nottingham Forest who lost 3-0. Nottingham Forest lacked fight all over the pitch, for the semi final of a cup they ended the game without a yellow card which is unheard of in my opinion and it begs the question are they concentrating on staying in the Premier League?
It looks difficult for either of the trailing sides to come back into these ties, Newcastle having the best defensive record in the Premier League and Manchester United leading 3-0, both teams have one foot in the final.