Arsenal defeated their city team Crystal Palace with a score of 3-2, and defending champion Liverpool won 2-1 at Southampton in the quarter-finals of the English League Cup in the early morning of December 19.
Gabriel Jesus shines, Arsenal defeat Crystal Palace
Gabriel Jesus scored a second-half hat-trick as Arsenal came from behind to beat Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, their fifth successive win over their London rivals.
Arsenal play the quarter-finals of the English League Cup at Crystal Palace (Photo: Getty).
Crystal Palace, who have only beaten Arsenal twice in 30 years, got off to a promising start with an early goal. After just four minutes, a pass from Dean Henderson set up Jean-Philippe Mateta to break through the Arsenal defence and open the scoring. Arsenal quickly regained control and almost levelled when Raheem Sterling’s free-kick was saved by Henderson.
Arsenal dominated the first half, having 72% possession and 10 shots but failing to score. The introduction of Martin Odegaard and William Saliba gave Arsenal a boost in the second half. Odegaard set up Jesus for the equaliser, before Jesus completed his hat-trick with two more goals, turning the game around for Arsenal.
Jesus celebrates after scoring against Crystal Palace (Photo: Getty).
Crystal Palace tried to respond through Eddie Nketiah, but Arsenal held on to win 3-2. Mikel Arteta’s side will face Crystal Palace again on Saturday in the Premier League.
Liverpool dominate at Southampton
Defending champions Liverpool have reached the semi-finals of the EFL Cup for the third time in four seasons after beating Southampton 2-1 in their first game under caretaker manager Simon Rusk.
The match was played in poor weather conditions with heavy rain on the south coast, making things difficult for both teams from the start. It wasn’t until the 19th minute that the first chance came when Southampton’s Tyler Dibling had a shot saved by Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher. Just five minutes later, Liverpool opened the scoring when Darwin Nunez capitalised on a mistake by goalkeeper Alex McCarthy.
Nunez celebrates after scoring (Photo: Getty).
The visitors extended their lead with a second goal after a sharp counter-attack. Cody Gakpo and Wataru Endō combined well on the left flank, allowing Harvey Elliott to fire in from the edge of the box. His shot hit Ryan Manning and sailed past McCarthy to make it 2-0 in the 32nd minute. Despite McCarthy’s excellent save later on, Liverpool were in complete control of the game going into the break.
Southampton made a good start to the second half after Rusk’s motivational speech. The home side reduced the deficit to 1-2 thanks to Cameron Archer, who finished past Kelleher in the 59th minute. Just three minutes later, Archer almost equalised, but Kelleher saved his shot after a pass from Yukinari Sugawara.
Despite Southampton scoring their 10th goal in four League Cup games, they were unable to find an equaliser against Liverpool. Liverpool had the best chance of the game late on, but Taylor Harwood-Bellis blocked Federico Chiesa on the line. The win kept Liverpool’s unbeaten run of 20 games in all competitions alive and kept them in contention on all four fronts.