Liverpool supporters still licking the wounds of the Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle United will hope that Sunday afternoon isn't a foresight of what will come.

In the grand scheme of things, the 2-1 defeat to the Magpies will count for very little if the Reds can maintain their 12-point lead at the top of the Premier League and in doing so, ensure Arne Slot becomes just the fourth manager to win the Premier League in his first season in England.

But it was the manner in which Liverpool relinquished the Carabao Cup that will rankle with sections of the Reds' fanbase considerably over the next two-and-a-half weeks until they are back in action against Everton on April 2.



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But regardless of whether Liverpool can snap out of their current slump after back-to-back defeats for the first time under Slot, there was an element of Sunday's defeat that offered a possible indication of what life at Anfield could look like next season.

That was, of course, that Trent Alexander-Arnold wasn't part of the Liverpool squad for Sunday's showpiece final at Wembley after suffering an ankle injury in the 1-0 defeat to PSG five days earlier.

In his absence, both in the latter stages of Tuesday's tie and on Sunday, Slot deployed Jarell Quansah as a makeshift right-back.

Despite a difficult debut season under Slot, Quansah, who was called up to Thomas Tuchel's first England squad last week, performed admirably at Wembley on Sunday and for the large part was able to keep the lively Harvey Barnes at bay.

Unsurprisingly, though, it was out of possession where Alexander-Arnold's absence harmed Liverpool the most as despite enjoying a lion's share of possession, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah were left to feed off scraps.

Over the course of the 98 minutes, in fact, Liverpool mustered just two shots on Pope's goal, with both efforts coming from substitutes Curtis Jones and Federico Chiesa.

Of course, it is not a time to panic for Liverpool just yet as they were also without their second and third-choice right-backs, Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez.

But at a time when Alexander-Arnold looks more likely to leave Liverpool at the end of the season than he is to stay, the manner in which his on-the-ball mastery was missed by Slot's side will surely have some inside Anfield sweating as the defender enters the final weeks of his contract.

Like Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, Alexander-Arnold will be free to leave Anfield on July 1 when his Liverpool contract expires.

Some quarters of the Reds' fanbase have argued that Alexander-Arnold would be the easiest out-of-contract trio for Liverpool to replace.

But Sunday afternoon's abject performance has proved the reality of life without Alexander-Arnold is far worse than the preconceived belief.

Liverpool, then, must work tirelessly between now and the end of the season to ensure that the 2-1 defeat is the last time Alexander-Arnold is unavailable when Liverpool are in action at Wembley
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