What time is Stoke City v Liverpool in the Capital One Cup semi finals, what TV channel is it on and what's the team news?

What is it?

It's only the semi-final first leg of the second-biggest cup competition in the country! Stoke City play host to Liverpool after overcoming giant-killing Sheffield Wednesday in the quarter finals.

Jurgen Klopp will be hoping to reach his first cup final with Liverpool in just his second month in charge at Anfield.

When is it?

The game kicks-off at 8pm but you can enjoy all the measured build-up to the tie from 7:30pm on Sky Sports 1.

Likely line-ups

Stoke: Butland; Johnson, Shawcross, Wollscheid, Pieters; Cameron, Whelan; Shaqiri, Walters, Arnautovic; Bojan.

Liverpool: Mignolet; Clyne, Lovren, Sakho, Moreno; Can, Lucas Coutinho, Lallana; Firmino; Benteke.

Christian Benteke will lead the line for Liverpool

How have both sides fared so far this season?

Pretty well, actually, both sides are quite literally unbeaten in the competition so far.

Liverpool looked in imperious form in their quarter-final tie with Southampton. Their 5-1 demolition of the Saints had commentators purring, however since then Liverpool have had a checkered run of form including Saturday's 2-0 defeat to West Ham.

Stoke come into the game off the back of a Premier League defeat. The Potters 2-1 defeat to West Brom ended a two-match winning run that included home and away wins over Manchester United and Everton.

What have the managers been saying?

Following Liverpool's limp defeat at the hands of West Ham, Klopp blasted his players for their lack of effort in the game.

Despite the disappointment of Saturday's defeat, Klopp was quick to identify Tuesday's game as a welcome opportunity to bounce back.

"We've got a new game coming up very quickly, the semi-final, so hopefully we can put things straight there because it’s very important," Klopp told Premier League Productions. "Hopefully we can do well against Stoke.

"Any game we play we want to win. We focus on the next game in hand. We're featuring in all competitions and that's a positive thing.

"We can do well in all of the cup competitions we're featuring in. We'll try to do our best in the next game - that's Stoke so we'll focus on that."

What are the odds?

Liverpool are slight favourites despite the Potters looking forward to the prospect of home advantage for the first leg.

Stoke City: 2/1
Liverpool: 8/5
Draw: 9/4

What are the key talking points?

Liverpool fans will be anxious to see whether injury-prone striker Daniel Sturridge has recovered enough from his latest setback to start for Liverpool.

The England striker starred in Liverpool's 5-1 win over Southampton, scoring twice to book the Reds' place in the last four of the league cup.

However Klopp has been cautious not to rush Sturridge back after a number of false starts.

Daniel Sturridge scores one of his two goals in the Capital One Cup semi-final

“I am not holding Daniel back, I am trying to get him fit,” Klopp explained.

"The main thing is not to bring him back too soon and have him pick up another injury. We just have to be patient.”

How's their head-to-head?

Liverpool have a favourable record over the Potters in the league cup. On the way to lifting the trophy in 1995, 2001 and 2012, the Reds overcame Stoke in at least one of the earlier rounds.

Stoke defeated Liverpool 6-1 last season in Steven Gerrard's last game

Despite a history of triumphs in the league cup, Liverpool fans will be forgiven for approaching Tuesday's trip to the Britannia with some trepidation after Stoke thrashed Liverpool 6-1 in Steven Gerrard's last Premier League game as a Red.

Who awaits the winner?

Well, the tie will eventually be decided by the outcome of the second leg, however the other semi-final sees Everton welcome Manchester City to Goodison Park.

The prospect of a Merseyside final is a very real one.

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