English League Cup: Tottenham's misery continues with loss at Liverpool and Dowman stars for Arsenal

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Arsenal can't stop winning. As for big-spending Tottenham, just scoring a goal is a feat in itself this season.

The current gulf between the two north London rivals was highlighted in the English League Cup on Tuesday, with Arsenal fielding almost an entire second-choice lineup and still overwhelming fellow Premier League team Ipswich in a 4-2 win in the third round.

Make that six straight win across all competitions to open the season for Arsenal.

Then there’s Tottenham, which lost 3-1 in the pouring rain at Liverpool and isn’t getting much return on its incredible $400 million outlay on new players in the summer transfer window.

At least Spurs scored. They haven't managed that in four Premier League games so far this season.

Max Dowman, a 16-year-old prodigy, enhanced his budding reputation with a goal early in each half, while Noni Madueke and Mikel Merino also netted for the English champions as they soared into a 4-0 lead.

“He is only 16 years old and we have to be careful," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said of Dowman, an attacking midfielder who last year became the youngest player in Champions League history, at age 15 years and 308 days. "We don’t want to stop him, but we need to develop him. We’re fully aware of what he needs and he will have full opportunities to play.”

Arsenal's impressive strength in depth should enable Arteta’s squad to challenge on multiple fronts.

“That’s what we want, to face every game, every competition with the same mentality, attitude and desire," Arteta said, "and so far we are doing it.”

Spurs' only victory in six games this season was against second-tier Charlton in the previous round of the League Cup.

In the Premier League, they have two draws and two losses — and no goals.

Conor Gallagher's header at a corner in the 69th minute gave Tottenham hope after goals by Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo put Liverpool 2-0 ahead. Dominik Szoboszlai's long-range piledriver in the first minute of stoppage time ended any chance of a comeback by the visitors, who racked up 17 mostly wayward shots.

“We have to shoot more times and we have to shoot better,” Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi said. “We have to finish better the clear situations.”

Tottenham isn't playing in European competition this season, so its only realistic chance of silverware lies with the FA Cup starting in January.

“I don't know if the click is (coming) on Saturday or not,” De Zerbi said, looking ahead to Aston Villa's visit in the league, “... because we have enough qualities to score many goals with these players.”

Premier League teams Fulham and Brentford also advanced to the fourth round.

Fulham won 3-2 at second-tier West Ham and Brentford beat third-tier Reading 2-1.

There will be more third-round games on Wednesday and Thursday.

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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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