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Arsenal prepared a possible Carabao Cup fourth round clash with Liverpool after beating Leicester at the King Power Stadium.
An own goal by Christian Fuchs and a last gasp from Eddie Nketiah saw the visitors clinch a 2-0 win, leaving them with a trip to Lincoln or Liverpool next week.
This was the only third-round clash between two Premier League teams, but neither really looked like their strongest XI with Jamie Vardy and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the night off.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta made seven changes when the winner of the weekend’s game, Nketiah, was remembered alongside players like David Luiz, Mohamed Elneny and Nicolas Pepe.
Despite the rotation, there was no room on the team of the day for either Mesut Ozil or Matteo Guendouzi, who have yet to kick a ball for the Gunners this season.
Brendan Rodgers appointed an entirely new Leicester XI to the team that beat Burnley on Sunday when James Maddison had his first start of the season.
Reiss Nelson, recently linked to a loan away from Arsenal, started well and came close to opening the scoring, forcing Danny Ward to make a good save on Leicester’s goal.
At the other end, Bernd Leno kept his place despite the signing of Icelandic international Alex Runarsson and he too did well to prevent Kelechi Iheanacho from putting the hosts ahead.
Then Arsenal enjoyed a period of dominance, Pepe should have done better when he was picked inside the area, but he tried to cut back instead of shooting and the danger was cleared.
Nelson then passed up a glorious opportunity when he shot well wide when in good position, while Bukayo Saka saw a strong penalty demand rejected after being brought down by Daniel Amartey.
Rodgers’ side finally began to come to life as the half progressed and Maddison was unlucky enough to see a curling effort off the post.
The second half started slowly when torrential rain began to fall on King Power Stadium and Arsenal took the lead under fortuitous circumstances.
Pepe had been pretty ineffective, but he was right to hit a cross that hit the post and bounced off Fuchs and into his own goal.
Nketiah, sent off when these teams met in the league toward the end of last season, came close to resolving the tie when he threw the ball toward goal only for Wes Morgan to run back and off the line.
The Foxes turned to Dennis Praet and Ayoze Perez from the bench and the latter had a shot blocked shortly after his presentation.
But the former Newcastle striker should have leveled with 10 minutes to go, sending a free header from close range, much to Rodgers’ chagrin on the touchline.
Nketiah would then lock in the score, making a pack from almost the line in injury time.
If Liverpool beat Lincoln on Thursday, it will see Arsenal make two trips to Anfield next week, with the fourth-round tie following the Premier League meeting on Monday night.
Kai Havertz makes his mark on Chelsea with hat-trick on Barnsley hammering
Kai Havertz’s hat-trick led Chelsea’s 6-0 Carabao Cup rout of Barnsley, while Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell enjoyed promising Blues debuts.
German playmaker Havertz scored his first goals for Chelsea, enjoying a more central role as Frank Lampard’s men dominated their Championship opponents.
Tammy Abraham, Ross Barkley and Olivier Giroud also found the net in a dominant Chelsea display at Stamford Bridge.
The omission of Toni Rudiger for the Chelsea team for the second straight game left the German defender with his sights set on a loan out before the October 5 transfer deadline.
Silva’s arrival could push Rudiger down the pecking order in West London, with the Brazilian stalwart adding immediate organization in an authorized work hour.
Fikayo Tomori’s return to the first-team group could aggravate Rudiger’s situation, and the 27-year-old could now look for a move during this window.
Blues boss Lampard vowed to use this cup as an opportunity to improve fitness after a nearly non-existent preseason.
Chelsea strangled the Tykes with their high pressure, forcing several goals directly from turnovers.
Havertz took his goals well and looks more natural as No. 10, but the lessons turned out to be too few on a comfortable night.
Silva’s calmness shone through early on, the Brazilian dominating his teammates, whether Chelsea were in or out of possession.
However, the 36-year-old’s presence couldn’t stop Barnsley from creating a handful of gold-edged openings, and the Blues needed veteran goalkeeper Willy Caballero to pull them out of various holes.
However, Abraham gave the Blues the upper hand, stealing the ball from Aapo Halme before applying a cold finish.
Mason Mount should have doubled Chelsea’s lead after being played smartly by Havertz, but he was only able to punch from eight yards.
Havertz eventually put the Blues up 2-0, finishing in style after a skillful move.
Abraham stepped over Mount’s pass and that dummy baffled Barnsley’s defense. When the ball hit Havertz, he braced himself and then delivered the killing blow.
Barnsley goalkeeper Brad Collins was booked in the death of the half for knocking down Abraham just outside his box, and Chelsea took their two-goal lead at halftime.
Barkley had Chelsea tripled on good minutes after the break, drilling low into the corner of the net after Havertz won the ball well on the edge of Barnsley’s area.
The Chelsea press began to put pressure on Barnsley and he quickly conceded another goal.
This time it was Mateo Kovacic who forced a deep rotation into Tykes territory, and Abraham fired Havertz for his second of the night.
Havertz completed his hat-trick by circling the stranded Collins, clinging to Abraham’s fine ball to seal an enormously promising individual performance.
Chilwell scored Giroud’s sixth goal, culminating his first outing with a smart assist to cap off the Blues’ stress-free night.
Everton beat Fleetwood despite Jordan Pickford’s mistakes
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was left wishing he had rested for the 5-2 Carabao Cup win against Fleetwood in League One after two errors in judgment that made for an uncomfortable night.
The visitors advanced at the break with two goals from Richarlison, but England’s number one made a mistake three minutes after the restart.
Pickford, one of five players retained from Saturday’s win over West Brom, faltered on a punt virtually under his own crossbar and was charged to allow substitute Mark Duffy a free throw.
Alex Iwobi appeared to have rescued his teammate with a goal less than two minutes later only to further indecision from Pickford, who was left out of the previous round last week to allow Joao Virginia to make his debut and lead another goal.
Having started coming for Glenn Whelan’s center at the far post, he changed his mind and, when Ched Evans returned the ball, Pickford got a hand for Callum Camps’ fly kick that went straight for him but couldn’t help himself.
For the second time in 10 minutes Ancelotti was speechless and shaking his head in his technical area.
He made an awkward final half hour even after Bernard shot home a quarter and substitute Moise Kean scored on Everton’s last shot of the night.
It was a night that coach Carlo Ancelotti could not have imagined deciding to form a solid lineup with Richarlison, Pickford, Michael Keane, Lucas Digne and Saturday’s hat trick hero Dominic Calvert-Lewin all included to get the job done.
Richarlison played his role as did Niels Nkounkou, the £ 240,000 summer signing from Marseille, who put on another impressive performance as a left-back to match his against Salford, with Bernard finishing off another fine showing in central midfield with a goal.
Fleetwood boss Joey Barton, a childhood Evertonian, must have feared the worst after Richarlison made the score 2-0 in the 34th minute, launching from the far post to finish off a handsome cross from Bernard and then shooting. home from Iwobi’s clever cue in a packed penalty area.
But Everton’s comfort position (they enjoyed 80 percent possession in the first half) lasted for two minutes and 40 seconds into the second half when Pickford’s aberration gave Fleetwood, who had missed a shot in the first half. , a life preserver.
They responded well to Iwobi adding Everton’s third with Camps scoring the goal of the night, after another error in judgment from Pickford, to keep the game in balance until Bernard and Kean worked things out to set up a home draw against West Ham. .
Online editors
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