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December 19, 2014

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Sterling hot as Liverpool sets up last-4 Chelsea clash

LIVERPOOL’S Raheem Sterling netted a sharply-taken double in a 3-1 win over Bournemouth on Wednesday to set up an English League Cup semifinal with Chelsea as Tottenham Hotspur strolled into the last four with a 4-0 rout of Newcastle United.

Sterling, who wasted chances in the 0-3 defeat by Manchester United on Sunday, looked a sharp-eyed goal-getter against second-tier opponents as he lifted the pressure on his manager Brendan Rodgers.

It was an even more comfortable evening for Tottenham, which will face third-tier Sheffield United in a two-legged clash in January.

Nabil Bentaleb, Nacer Chadli, Harry Kane and Roberto Soldado were on target for Spurs against Newcastle which conceded four times for the second match in succession after losing 1-4 to Arsenal in north London on Saturday.

At Bournemouth, the hosts' hopes of an upset were scuppered by their own profligacy against eight-time winner Liverpool.

A glaring miss from Callum Wilson was punished on 20 minutes when Sterling headed the visitors ahead from close range.

Liverpool, which had won only two of 10 matches since it last played in the League Cup, seemed to have rediscovered its scoring touch when Lazar Markovic struck with his first goal for the club.

Sterling finished six minutes after the break before Dan Gosling grabbed a consolation when his shot beat goalkeeper Brad Jones, who should have done better.

Rodgers would have been forgiven for wanting to face anyone but league leader Chelsea in the semifinals. “It didn’t matter who we got in the draw, it was just important to get there — to win this competition you have to win games against big sides,” the Northern Irishman told Sky Sports.

“I thought it was a brilliant performance from us tonight, it was always going to be a difficult job, but we controlled the game.”




 

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