MatchStats: Cody Gakpo can make history as Liverpool chase 14th League Cup final

The Netherlands forward provided the winner in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final with Fulham, having also netted in the ties with West Ham United, AFC Bournemouth and Leicester City in previous rounds.

By scoring against the Cottagers at Anfield earlier this month, meanwhile, Gakpo became the fourth Reds substitute in history to net in the last four of the competition – after David Fairclough (1980), Vladimir Smicer (2001) and Jordon Ibe (2016).

Read on for more stats ahead of Wednesday night's second-leg showdown with Marco Silva's side…

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If Liverpool advance, they will play in a competition-record 14th final.

Only once have the Reds won the first leg of a League Cup semi-final and not progressed to the final. That came in 1998 when they beat Middlesbrough 2-1 at Anfield before losing 2-0 in the return fixture.

Only twice before have Liverpool won both legs at this stage of a League Cup campaign. They won both games 1-0 against Crystal Palace in 1995 and Watford in 2005.

The Reds have lost just one of their last 37 games against domestic opponents in all competitions.

Four substitutes have come off the bench to score for Liverpool in the Carabao Cup this season – Dominik Szoboszlai (v Leicester), Darwin Nunez (v Bournemouth), Mohamed Salah (v West Ham) and Gakpo (v Fulham).

In the first leg, the Reds came from behind for the eighth time this season to win a game.

Liverpool are unbeaten in their last five visits to Craven Cottage – all in the league – with three wins and two draws.

Jürgen Klopp's side could keep a fourth successive away clean sheet in all competitions for the first time since March 2022.

Klopp has used 23 players in the four Carabao Cup matches this campaign. Only Caoimhin Kelleher, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott have started all of them, with Nunez and Gakpo also ever-presents.

Kelleher and Joe Gomez, each with 13, have made more appearances for Liverpool in the League Cup than any current player in the squad.

Kelleher has saved more penalties in shootouts (six) than any other goalkeeper in the club's history. He has been on the winning team in all four of his penalty shootouts.

No Liverpool player has ever scored a hat-trick in the semi-final of any competition.