Top 3 bets for Thursday's EFL Cup football & Aussie Open tennis

Who will face Chelsea in the EFL Cup final?

It’s all to play for in tonight’s EFL Cup semi-final 2^nd leg between Arsenal and Liverpool after a goalless 1^st leg at Anfield last week. The Gunners were forced to hang on for a draw in the 1^st leg after the early dismissal of Granit Xhaka, though they impressed with the way they kept out the Liverpool attack, dangerous even without Sadio Mane and Mo Salah and the African Cup of Nations. The Reds are still without their two African stars, while Arsenal could welcome back Thomas Partey, whose Ghana side were surprisingly knocked out in the group stages.

Trent Alexander-Arnold Assist Minutes (spread 13-16)

Trent has almost invented a new position in football, such is his influence from what looks like a right back in a flat back four. He is one of the most creative players in the country, and already has double digit assists again this season. With star forwards Mane and Salah still absent, he will take on even more responsibility when Liverpool are attacking and look to play in the likes of Diogo Jota to score the goals to take his team to Wembley.

What’s the biggest match in Europe tonight?

Athletic Bilbao take on Barcelona in the Copa del Rey tonight looking for a place in the quarter-finals. Barca, who have grabbed the headlines before this match by leaving out Ousmane Dembele and telling him to find a new club, have drawn both their games since the last round of this competition, 1-1 at Granada and 2-2 with Real Madrid, going on to lose that Spanish Super Cup game in extra time.

Total Goal Minutes (spread 134-144)

There were 17 goals in the 4 games between these two clubs last season, a fact that hasn’t been missed by the punters we’ve seen buying various goals markets, including Total Goal Minutes. Despite their indifferent form this season, Barca have scored in every game since their 3-0 Champions League reverse against Bayern Munich at the start of last month, a record buyers of this spread will be hoping they maintain tonight.

Who is the only former champion left in the men’s Australian Open draw?

Rafa Nadal is still flying the flag for the old guys as he goes into 3^rd round battle against Russia’s Karen Khachanov in the early hours of tomorrow morning. The 2009 champ and five-time finalist here is chasing a 21^st Grand Slam title and with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – who hold the record with him at 20 – not here, he is the only player in with a chance of breaking that record. The Majorcan has looked in fine form so far, breezing through his 2^nd round match with German Yannick Hanfmann 6-2 6-2 6-4.

X-Courts (spread 83-91)

Despite Nadal’s fine form, we’ve seen some buying of the X-Courts spread, which is made up by multiplying Nadal’s game score by Khachanov’s in each set and aggregating them. Buyers obviously want as long and close a game as possible, so buyers are relying on Khachanov to perform well. The Russian was in good form in round 2, beating Benjamin Bonzi 6-4 6-0 7-5.