Ghana forward Mohammed Kudus blazed over from close range at Anfield before Dominik Szoboszlai’s late strike sealed a 3-1 win and sent Tottenham out of the League Cup.
Ghana international Mohammed Kudus endured a night to forget at Anfield as Tottenham Hotspur were beaten 3-1 by a much-changed Liverpool side and knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the third round.
The Carabao Cup is the sponsored name of the English Football League (EFL) Cup, the knockout competition open to all 92 clubs in England's top four divisions. Liverpool's win takes them into the fourth round.
Kudus' costly miss
Spurs were level and pushing for an equaliser just after the half-hour mark when the ball dropped to Kudus a few yards from goal. The former West Ham and Ajax forward, who joined Tottenham this year, lifted his effort over the bar.
It proved expensive. Liverpool had already gone ahead on 21 minutes through Alexis Mac Allister, who side-footed into the top corner after the ball broke to him on the edge of the box.
The Argentine then turned provider after the interval, setting up Cody Gakpo to finish a flowing move for 2-0.
Spurs' brief hope
Tottenham pulled one back on 69 minutes when Conor Gallagher turned in Mateus Fernandes' corner. It was the club's first goal of the season against Premier League opposition, having drawn a blank in four league matches, and their first goal of any kind since 26 August in the previous round of the competition.
An equaliser looked possible. But Liverpool goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, who had earlier denied Lucas Bergvall, produced another strong save to keep out Omar Marmoush, and Savio fired wide from inside the box.
In injury time, Dominik Szoboszlai chested the ball down and struck it from about 25 yards into the net to finish the tie.
Rotated squads
Both sides made heavy changes. Liverpool made 10 alterations from the goalless draw with Fulham on Saturday, with only Ronald Araujo keeping his place and Joe Gomez wearing the captain's armband on his first appearance of the campaign.
Spurs made eight changes from their goalless draw against Everton. Andy Robertson, who left Liverpool in the summer, started on the bench and received a standing ovation from the Anfield crowd when he came on. Around 6,000 travelling Tottenham supporters were in the stadium.
Where Spurs stand
The defeat leaves Tottenham with three losses from their opening six matches across all competitions. Their only win so far came in the earlier round of this same cup, against Charlton.
For Ghanaian fans following Kudus from home or from the United States, the concern is not effort but end product. He remains central to Tottenham's attack, but the team's goal drought against top-flight opposition had stretched across their first four league games before Gallagher's strike broke it.
Reported first by Adom Online on 2026-09-16. This article was written for our readers based on that report. Follow the link for the original coverage.