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Now you see him, now you don’t. Liverpool surged into the final of the Carabao Cup on a chilly evening in north London, and will face Chelsea at Wembley at the end of February. By then they will almost certainly have Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané to call on again, and so Diogo Jota will simply be able to retreat once more into the background, which is how you suspect he likes it. Jota is the sort of player you tend not to notice until the critical moment, which is exactly how he managed to hurt Arsenal here.

Jota popped up with an early goal to settle Liverpool’s nerves and a second late on to settle them again, both expertly assisted by the scintillating Trent Alexander-Arnold. In between, however, the second leg of this semi-final was fiercely and evenly contested, as Arsenal threw everything at their last chance of a trophy in 2022 and Jürgen Klopp’s side mustered all their street-fighting experience to hold them at bay.

Steven Gerrard and Duncan Ferguson renew hostilities, a crunch clash at Vicarage Road and another Chelsea-Spurs showdown

Norwich’s hopes of following up on last weekend’s win over Everton by prevailing in Friday’s crucial six-pointer against Watford suffered a blow when it was confirmed Tim Krul would miss the game with a shoulder injury. While one goalkeeper’s misfortune is another’s opportunity, Norwich fans won’t take much confidence from Angus Gunn’s most recent spell deputising for Krul between the sticks, when it could be argued he could have done a lot better for four of the eight goals Norwich conceded in games against Arsenal and Crystal Palace over the festive period. “Gunny was disappointed with the results that we had in the two games that he played in,” said Dean Smith. “He has been working hard to get that opportunity back again and it has presented itself now, so he knows he has got to go and play well.” No pressure, Angus. BG

Watford v Norwich City, Friday 8pm (all times GMT)

Manchester United v West Ham, Saturday 3pm

Everton v Aston Villa, Saturday 12.30pm

Chelsea v Tottenham, Sunday 4.30pm

Southampton v Manchester City, Saturday 5.30pm

Arsenal v Burnley, Sunday 2pm

• Iker Muniain’s penalty earns win after 2-2 draw in 90 minutes
• Carlo Ancelotti angry at schedule after extra-time win at Elche

Iker Muniain’s extra-time penalty earned Athletic Bilbao a 3-2 win over Barcelona in the Copa del Rey last 16, with last season’s beaten finalists gaining revenge on the holders in a thrilling encounter.

Having opened the scoring in the second minute of the match, the Athletic captain stepped up to beat Marc-André ter Stegen from the spot in the first half of extra time. The penalty was awarded by the VAR after Jordi Alba was judged to have handled a cross in the area.

Claudio Ranieri and Dean Smith were brought in to keep their teams up and they meet in a Friday night six-pointer

How big is the Friday night fixture between Watford and Norwich? “It’s very big,” says Claudio Ranieri. “We all know how important it is,” says Dean Smith. The two managers are “fighting” against adversity (Smith) and will “crash” into each other in the quest for three points (Ranieri). In the end, however, “the Premier League doesn’t stop”, as Ranieri puts it, or at least not until “the most important part … after 38 games”, in the words of Smith. So maybe it’s not that important after all.

Smith and Ranieri were brought into their clubs mid-season to help reverse downward trends, but are still in the relegation mix. It’s a mix made all the muddier by 22 Covid-induced postponements which mean last-placed Burnley have played four games fewer than Norwich and two fewer than Watford, who are 17th but could fall into the bottom three should they lose to the Canaries at Vicarage Road.

There is far more than romance to make the case for Rooney’s Goodison return after the way he has coped in a storm at Derby

There is a lot of romance in the idea of Wayne Rooney returning to Everton to become manager – and I am in love with the thought – but it makes a lot of business sense, too.

After Rafael Benítez’s brief, unhappy spell, the club need to reconnect with the fans, and the appointment of a hero is a good way of going about it. It is fair to say a lot of the fanbase were not enamoured of the appointment of a former Liverpool manager, so going in the opposite direction would be a smart move to get the supporters back on side.

• Champions finish bottom of group, Equatorial Guinea second
• Tunisia through despite loss to Gambia as Mali top Group F

Ivory Coast thumped Algeria 3-1 to send the defending champions crashing out of the Africa Cup of Nations finals following a disastrous Group E campaign.

Nicolas Pépé’s fine solo goal early in the second half put the game out of sight, the Arsenal winger advancing into the penalty area and curling the ball into the far corner with his left foot. The Elephants led 2-0 at half-time thanks to Franck Kessié’s opener and an Ibrahim Sangaré header from Serge Aurier’s free-kick.

• Midfielder would welcome chance to join French club
• Wolves reject £15m Spurs offer for Adama Traoré

Tottenham are in talks with Paris Saint-Germain over a deal to loan Tanguy Ndombele to the Ligue 1 leaders. The midfielder is keen on the move, which could include an option for PSG to buy at the end of the season.

Discussions are being held over what percentage of Ndombele’s salary, if any, Spurs would pay. The transfer would reunite the 25-year-old with Mauricio Pochettino, who made him Tottenham’s record signing for an initial £55.45m in July 2019 and is now in charge of PSG.

• Forward told by club to leave after failing to agree new deal
• Dembélé responds with strongly worded statement

Ousmane Dembélé has insisted that contract negotiations at Barcelona continue and warned that he will not be “blackmailed” after he was left out of the squad and told to leave with immediate effect.