Carabao Cup round-up: Third round

There were surprises galore in the Third round of the Carabao Cup, including a Champions League finalist being beaten by a League Two outfit.

Tuesday night’s action

The leading storyline from the most recent set of action in the League Cup was League Two side Colchester United‘s victory on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur. The U’s took last season’s Champions League finalists to a penalty shoot-out in Essex and, after Christian Eriksen and Lucas waster their opportunities from the spot, the U’s advanced with a 4-3 scoreline after spot-kicks.

Also making headlines, another fourth-tier side, was Crawley Town. The Sussex side fell behind to Sam Vokes’ 23rd-minute opener for Stoke City but Nathan Ferguson restored parity on 38 minutes. The visitors went down to ten men just past the hour-mark when Nathan Collins was shown a straight red; however, the visitors were unable to produce a miraculous ten-men victory and fell to a 5-3 penalty shoot-out defeat.

Along with lower-league sides causing upsets, there were goals galore as sixteen goals were scored from four matches.

Arsenal hit Nottingham Forest for a 5-0 scoreline at the Emirates. Forest looked inferior to their opponents and were behind at the break following Gabriel Martinelli’s opener. The visitors then held on until the 71st-minute at 1-0 down; however, goals from Rob Holding, Joseph Willock, Reiss Nelson and another from Martinelli provided the hosts comfortable passage into the next round.

In an exciting South Coast derby, League One Portsmouth were inflicted to a 4-0 reverse defeat at home to Southampton. Pompey were behind inside 21 minutes thanks to Danny Ings’ opener; the former Liverpool forward added a second just before half-time. Cedric Soares added a third in the second half before Nathan Redmond wrapped up proceedings late on.

Premier League Leicester City dispatched Luton Town for four goals without reply as Demarai Gray, James Justin, Youri Tielemeans and Kelechi Iheanacho all hit the target. Preston North End were beaten 3-0 by Manchester City following goals from Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus as well as a Ryan Ledson own-goal.

Wednesday’s action

In similar fashion to the night before, there were plenty of goals on the second night of Carabao Cup action.

League Two side Grimsby Town were humbled by a 7-1 scoreline against Chelsea. Goals from Ross Barkley, two goals from Michy Batshuayi, Pedro Rodriguez, Kurt Zouma, Reece James and Callum Hudson-Odoi ensured victory for the Premier League side. Matthew Green scored for the Mariners to put them 2-1 down; however, the Mariners were unable to make a challenge of the fixture.

It was a different story for Premier League West Ham United, however, as they fell to a 4-0 defeat at Oxford United. The two sides were level until 55 minutes when Elliott Moore found the net. Further goals from Matt Taylor, Tarique Fosu and Shandon Baptiste sent Oxford into the next round of the competition.

Manchester United’s worries in the top flight transferred into the League Cup as they failed to hold onto a lead and drew to Rochdale in regular time. Mason Greenwood put United ahead before Luke Matheson levelled for the lower league side at Old Trafford in normal time; however, the hosts bounced back to register a win from the ensuing penalty kicks, winning 5-3.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool navigated past a tricky tie at MK Dons with a 2-0 victory at Stadium MK following goals from James Milner and Ki-Jana Hoever.