You shouldn't run into conclusions on which club will be in the finals. Liverpool is still hopeful than Arsenal, because Tottenham only scored one goal. If Liverpool can win with two goals ahead, they will definitely be in the finals because Tottenham is not consistent. Arsenal might not qualify to the finals, because they need three goals to be in the finals and Newcastle is consistent in their matches.
I am pretty sure that Liverpool just simply doesn't look like they care about the EFL cup at all. Maybe they will recover and do better but I am not so sure that they even want to. Remember, this team is also on FA cup and they are also in the League and they are also on UCL all at the same time, which shows how this could be a very tough deal for them and not really look like it would make sense.
This is why I believe we may see Liverpool just not play with 100% here. In any case, I disagree with the notion that Liverpool may have hit the truck like City, just because they had a few bad results back to back doesn't mean that they are going to keep doing worse, it is not really something we should be concerned with, they are still a good team and I still think they will win the EPL as well. That's the most important part, not sure how well they can do at UCL but I am sure that they are going to end up winning the premier league and that's all that matters.
yes it could be that Liverpool is not serious about the EFL so it certainly will not be serious when competing and indeed there are many matches played by Liverpool so it could be that Liverpool will potentially be more serious in the Premier League and Champions League. but in my opinion Liverpool has indeed had a slight decline in performance because of course we have seen in the Premier League Man United has managed to hold a draw with a score of 2-2 so I see because of that it seems that Liverpool can be said to be experiencing a decline in performance.
but I see Liverpool is not like City and it is certainly natural if there are times when they lose when competing, and of course when viewed in terms of strength, of course Liverpool is still good and they are still a team that endangers the team that plays against them. I personally also agree with you, we don't need to worry because of course Liverpool still has great potential to become Premier League champions. but in the Champions League too, of course I think Liverpool has the potential to be champions as long as Liverpool can improve their performance because I still think there is a little that needs to be fixed by Arne Slot.