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LIVE: Preston North End vs Liverpool

LIVE: Preston North End vs Liverpool

That is all for tonight folks, thanks for joining us once again. Goodbye!

Liverpool will find out their next opponents on Saturday, but their attention will quickly turn to the Premier League ahead of their game against Brighton, while Preston will hopefully use tonight's display as a launchpad to improve their Championship fortunes.

Two moments of quality from Minamino and Origi help Liverpool book their place in the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup. Preston missed three chances to score in the first 45 minutes, with Maguire, Ledson and Potts all going close, but Liverpool made them pay when they got the opportunity. Minamino converted Williams' cross for the opener, before Origi's scorpion kick doubled his team's advantage. Job done as far as Liverpool are concerned, while Preston will be proud of their efforts. 

90' + 3' FULL-TIME - PRESTON 0-2 LIVERPOOL.

90' Three minutes of stoppage time to come at Deepdale.

89' SAVE! Rudd ensures that the score stays at 0-2 as he races off his line to smother a shot from Williams. The right-back had the chance to play in Minamino, but he went for the selfish route and was made to pay. 

86' Origi has now been directly involved in 13 goals in his ten starts in the League Cup, scoring 11 and assisting two.

83' McAvoy looks to have played all of his cards by now, and it will take a massive effort from Preston to come back from behind at Deepdale, but time is on their side.

80' Jones drives forward towards the Preston box, but he sees his shot saved by Rudd after failing to generate any power.

75' Phillips' introduction at half-time has been seamless for Liverpool, with the youngster forming a solid partnership with Gomez. The duo have had very little to do so far, but there's every chance they will be put through their paces before full-time.

72' Liverpool forward Minamino now has five goals in as many EFL Cup matches for the Reds!

65' Preston now have 25 minutes to salvage something from this tie, but they will need to dig very deep indeed, with Liverpool looking comfortable in possession like they have done all night.

60' Barkhuizen tries to squeeze his shot into the near post, but Adrian gets into a prime position to deny him. 

58' Maguire appears to have had some of his fingers strapped, and he looks fine to continue! 

57' The game comes to a halt as Maguire goes down under a challenge from Minamino. It looks like the forward has hurt his hand, and the physios are now on the field to tend to him.

54' CLOSE! Oxlade-Chamberlain thrashes a shot wide of the far post, and Rudd was worried, but the former Southampton man went for power over placement.

51' McAvoy has also got some big decisions to make, with his team doing a fantastic job so far. If he decides to freshen things up, his side may lose their foothold on the game. 

49' Liverpool have injected a bit more pace into the game at the start of the second half, but Rudd's only involvement has been to take goal-kicks. If Klopp wants to avoid penalties, he may need to introduce Jota or Firmino in the next ten minutes or so. 

48' Minamino wastes a great chance to score after being played in by Oxlade-Chamberlain. The winger latched onto the looping pass but took his eye off the ball and the home side win a goal-kick instead.

46' We are back underway at Deepdale, with just one change being made at the interval.

Liverpool's second-string will no doubt come out firing after a rallying cry from Klopp at the break, and the first ten minutes of the second half are so important for Preston. Hopefully, they can produce more of the same, and we get an end-to-end second 45 minutes. 

The referee brings the first half to a close, and overall, that was a disappointing 45 minutes of action. Liverpool have had plenty of possession, but they have not done anything with it, with Preston goalkeeper Rudd a passenger so far. Sadly for Preston, they have wasted their chances to score, with Potts going close twice, while Maguire and Ledson saw their shots saved on the line. 

45' + 1' HALF-TIME - PRESTON 0-0 LIVERPOOL.

44' Rudd has yet to make a save tonight, and McAvoy would have taken that with one minute remaining of the first half.

41' This game has felt like a training exercise for Liverpool, but Preston have not had anything to worry about so far, and the sheer number of changes Klopp has made has taken the sting out of his team by the looks of things.

39' Liverpool have progressed from 16 of their last 17 League Cup ties against sides from a lower division, with the exception coming in the 2010-11 campaign when they lost on penalties to Northampton Town.

36' Liverpool could do with lifting the tempo of this match, especially if they want to open the scoring before half-time. Everything is a little one-paced at present, and that is playing into Preston's hands.

34' Liverpool duo Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jones are starting to get more joy in midfield, but they have yet to create any meaningful chances for Blair, Origi or Minamino.

30' This game is now starting to feel like a proper cup tie; it just took 25 minutes for the players to warm up.

28' SO CLOSE!!! Preston miss three chances to open the scoring, but Liverpool keep them at bay. Maguire's first shot was blocked by Adrian, but Ledson then saw his effort saved on the goalline by Williams. With Liverpool failing to clear their lines, Potts had the chance to punish them, but he leaned back and blasted his shot over the crossbar. Preston might not get a better opportunity to open the scoring, and they will be kicking themselves! 

24' CHANCE!!! Potts goes close to opening the scoring, but Adrian stays big to deny the Preston midfielder. Liverpool's midfield were caught trying to play a high line, but Potts failed to take the chance, and it remains 0-0.

20' Preston's five-man midfield is doing an excellent job of neutralising Liverpool's attacks, but whether they can keep that up for the rest of this match is another question.

18' Just a reminder that his game will go straight to penalties, should neither side get the job done inside 90 minutes.

15' Liverpool's midfield needs to take control of this fixture, with Oxlade-Chamberlain a key cog in this Klopp team.

13' Nearly 15 minutes into the game and Liverpool have barely got going, which perhaps might not surprise some readers after Klopp decided to change his entire starting XI.

10' Preston registers the first real shot on goal, and Barkhuizen is the man that wastes it. The home side sat deep and launched a quick counter-attack, only for Barkhuizen to find the back of the stands with his effort.

8' Maguire and Barkhuizen are taking it in turns to drop into midfield to help Potts, and so far, the plan is working for McAvoy's side.

5' The home side have made a decent start to tonight's encounter, keeping Liverpool away from their penalty box inside the opening exchanges.

2' Deepdale is packed as Preston eye a famous cup shock, and they will be hoping to make a fast start in front of their passionate fanbase.

1' We are underway in Lancashire!

This is the first meeting between Preston and Liverpool since January 2009, with the Reds winning 2-0 at Deepdale in the FA Cup.

Preston boss Frankie McAvoy makes nine changes to his team after Saturday's 2-0 Championship defeat to Blackpool. Van den Berg has been given the opportunity to play against his parent club, and he will form part of the back three, and he and Hughes are the only two players to keep their place in the team. Reds coach Klopp changes his starting XI for the trip to Lancashire, with midfielder Morton makes his full debut, while Blair makes his first senior appearance for the Reds.

SUBS: Diogo Jota, Ibrahima Konate, Nathaniel Phillips, Marcelo, Conor Bradley, Owen Beck, Elijah Dixon-Bonner, Roberto Firmino, Liam Hughes.

LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Adrian; Neco Williams, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, Konstantinos Tsimikas; Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones, Tyler Morton; Harvey Blair, Divock Origi, Takumi Minamino.

SUBS: Emil Riis Jakobsen, Joshua Earl, Jordan Storey, Benjamin Whiteman, Daniel Johnson, Patrick Bauer, Daniel Iversen, Scott Sinclair, Paul Huntington.

PRESTON (3-4-1-2): Declan Rudd; Sepp van den Berg, Liam Lindsay, Andrew Hughes; Joseph Rafferty, Alistair McCann, Ryan Ledson, Greg Cunningham; Brad Potts; Tom Barkhuizen, Sean Maguire.

Preston's recent form is not something that will give them any hope as they prepare to try and pull off a cup shock. The Lilywhites have won one of their previous six matches, but they are unbeaten in seven at home.

Liverpool's squad will still be on a high following their historic win over Manchester United, but it is back down to business tonight as they travel to Deepdale. The Reds beat Norwich City in the previous round, and they will be confident of booking their place in the quarter-finals.

Good evening and welcome to tonight's live coverage of the EFL Cup tie between Preston North End and Liverpool. The Reds are unbeaten so far this season in all competitions, and the Championship side will have to be at their best to even come close to beating Jurgen Klopp's men.

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