Month: September 2020

A Christian Fuchs own goal and Eddie Nketiah’s poked finish gave Arsenal victory over Leicester City and set up a potential Carabao Cup fourth-round tie against Liverpool.

There was little Fuchs could do as Nicolas Pepe’s angled effort hit him after coming off the post and went in.

Nketiah settled the tie in the closing stages, stabbing in after fine work from substitute Hector Bellerin.

Earlier, City’s James Maddison hit the post on his first start of 2020-21.

Arsenal will play Liverpool in round four if the Premier League champions beat League One Lincoln on Thursday.

Wednesday’s result continued the Gunners’ impressive start to the season, during which they have won the Community Shield on penalties and secured back-to-back Premier League victories.

Manager Mikel Arteta made seven changes but still fielded a strong side, although there was again no place for Mesut Ozil.

The XI did include previously maligned club record signing Pepe, who was solid without being spectacular on Wednesday, but played a key role in the opening goal with a good run and persistence at the end of it.

Bukayo Saka again demonstrated his readiness for regular first-team action, while Nketiah remains a predatory finisher.

He almost scored with a chip that Wes Morgan headed off the line, before he did settle the tie by prodding the ball past Danny Ward from close range.

Kai Havertz’s hat-trick in Chelsea’s Carabao Cup thrashing of Barnsley will be the “first of many great nights” for him, says Blues boss Frank Lampard.

These were the 21-year-old Germany international’s first goals for the club after arriving from Bayer Leverkusen earlier this month for a fee that could reach £71m.

Tammy Abraham put the Blues ahead and had a role in all of Havertz’s goals.

Ross Barkley and Olivier Giroud were also on target as the hosts eased into the fourth round at Stamford Bridge.

“I’m delighted with Kai,” said Lampard.

“It was everything I wanted the night to be for him. Because Kai has had no pre-season and signing for the club took a few days out for him as well.”

Havertz’s hat-trick was the first of his senior club career and he has now been involved in 26 goals in all competitions in 2020, scoring 18 and making eight assists.

Only Robert Lewandowski (35), Lionel Messi (32) and Cristiano Ronaldo (31) have been involved in more goals among players in the top five European leagues.

“Tonight was a great exercise for him to see how we want to work off the ball, for him to be a part of that,” added Lampard.

“He made a great recovery tackle for Ross’ goal, and then to also just have some freedom on the ball and roam in more central areas.

“I thought it was a great combination with Tammy and I was pleased with the way he grew into the game in terms of confidence. It was a great night for Kai, and the first of many for him.”

The Blues will visit either Tottenham or Leyton Orient in the next round.

Spurs’ game against the League Two side was called off on Tuesday after several of the Leyton Orient squad tested positive for coronavirus.

Discussions are ongoing over the implications of not holding the third-round match on Tuesday, with a further update to be provided in due course.

Manchester United booked their place in the Carabao Cup fourth round with a 3-0 win over Championship side Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.

Goals from Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood were enough to hand Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side their first win of the season, booking a fourth-round trip to either Preston or Brighton,

United were made to work, however, with a resolute Luton side showing why they sit third in the Championship with two wins from two, having progressed to the third round with impressive victories over Norwich and Reading.

With one eye on their tricky league trip to Brighton on Saturday, Solskjaer made 10 changes to the side that lost to Crystal Palace in their top-flight opener, handing first starts to Dean Henderson and summer signing Donny van de Beek.

Though United started the brighter, Luton grew in confidence as the half progressed and were undoubtedly the side on top as the clock hit 43 minutes.

United capitalised on a rare Luton mistake on the stroke of half-time, however, as Tom Lockyer’s panicked clearance ricocheted off the arms of Andrew Shinnie and into the path of Brandon Williams, who was tripped in the box by George Moncur.

Mata made no mistake with the resulting penalty, stroking home into the bottom right-hand corner to give the visitors a half-time lead.

United looked to set a quicker tempo in the second half but were again unable to carve open any clear-cut chances until Solskjaer called for Bruno Fernandes, Rashford and Greenwood with 10 minutes remaining.

After Henderson was called into action with a fine save from a close-range Lockyer header at the near post, substitutes Greenwood and Rashford linked up, with the latter slotting home to put the game beyond doubt.

Greenwood then added another in the dying seconds, calmly passing beyond James Shea in the Luton goal as United progressed to the next round.

Prior to the game, Solskjaer insisted it would take his side up to five games to reach peak condition after a delayed return to pre-season following their run to the Europa League semi-finals last term.

And while this was indeed no vintage display – from a side missing the likes of Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial – a place in the fourth round and some additional minutes in the legs will certainly be pleasing for the Norwegian.