Arsenal: Leno, Cedric, Holding, White, Kolasinac, Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Pepe, Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Nketiah
Subs: Ramsdale, Tavares, Chambers, Lokonga, Partey, Saka, Salah-Eddine, Lacazette, Balogun
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Arsenal made it through the Carabao Cup quarter-finals after a 2-0 win over Leeds in the Carabao Cup Round of 16.
Mikel Arteta made a number of changes from the squad which beat Aston Villa 3-1 with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Martin Odegaard, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel all rested.
The Gunners were quite bright in the early stages, Kolasinac with the first effort on goal in the 10th minute after Maitland-Niles’ pace caused the Leeds defence problems.
Nketiah’s nice turn in midfield could have created more danger but for a heavy second touch, Pepe shot over after working space for the attempt, while Leno did well to get there as Dan James went through on goal – much to the displeasure of Mikel Arteta.
Harrison had the visitor’s first real threat, firing in a powerful shot which Leno did well to save at his near post, and the German was called into action again from a corner when James shot saw him make a routine stop.
Roberts picked up a booking for a foul on White, then from a break from an Arsenal corner, curled a shot wide. A corner late in the half was cleared but eventually resulted in a half-chance for Smith Rowe which he fired wide, and the teams went in level at the break.
Leeds made a half-time change, bringing on Klich for Forshaw, and seven minutes into an uneventful second period, they made another when Gelhardt replaced Roberts. Arsenal were then forced into a sub of their own when Ben White went down and had to be taken off, Calum Chambers coming on.
The sub had an immediate impact, Pepe headed a corner back across goal, Chambers headed the ball down and over the line with his first touch, and although the keeper looked to have made a save, the ball had crossed the line. 1-0.
Leeds made another change, Cooper coming for Llorente, Nketiah had a shot after good build up but it was an easy save for the keeper. Pepe saw a shot deflected, James and Harrison had attempts for Leeds, before the lead was doubled. Nketiah was quick to react to a header back to the keeper, he took a touch, took it around him, and almost missed it from a yard out, but saw his effort creep in at the far post. 2-0.
Leeds brought on their final two subs, including former Arsenal youth player Sam Greenwood, while Arteta replaced Smith Rowe and Elneny with Lacazette and Lokonga in the 72nd minute. Nuno Tavares then had to come on in place of Holding who looked like he’d cramped, perhaps having not played a lot of late.
Leeds looked like a team who knew the game was up, and the final stages played out in that fashion. Lacazette fired over after robbing Phillips and making a shooting chance, and in terms of goalscoring attempts that was that from an Arsenal perspective, although Gelhardt shot wide for Leeds in injury time.
In the end, the Gunners were probably decent value for the win, and a place in the quarter-finals of the League Cup.
Well played! Good result.
Yeah, a pleasing enough result but for me the shine fully taken off by Benjamin’s injury. We can blame Arteta but I don’t think it was so crazy to keep one first choice CB on against premier league opposition.
Doesn’t make it any less frustrating though and I just hope and pray it was just precautionary. From the look on Benjamin’s face though, I’m guessing we won’t see him until after the international break.
We stroll on. More momentum. Unbeaten run continues. COYFG!
Not an injury, just illness. Hopefully he’ll be well in time for Leicester.
Tell us more??
Not much to tell. Bug going around colney I guess, that’s what kept mari out. White was feeling it during the game and they brought him off. Arsenal website explicitly states not covid so, hopefully by the weekend everyone is good.
Ah, ok. Kinda begs the question why he was on the field if ill. Surely Chambers or Mari could’ve played this one.
Unless he had the lasagne at halftime.
Mari was meant to but has the illness Mikel thinks
BenBenjamin now has.Oh that mercurial chef. We’re still keeping him around i see. A strong team player.
Mari out ill too. Why he started White over chambers is anyone’s guess, but I’m gonna wager he’s a nervous man who didn’t want to take any chances losing and didn’t trust a back line of Cedric, chambers, holding, kola.
I’m glad it wasn’t one of the 1st team that scored. Players like Nketiah and Chambers scoring keeps the team morale high as it feels like everyone is just as important. No elitist feelings.
Pepe – Worldclass and Sunday league piled together.
It oscillates sometimes in the blink of an eye!
Dude has to be the most frustrating player ever to step on a football pitch.
At his most infuriating worst today.
Tricks and flicks. No end product.
Fantastic move to lose his man, then trips over the ball…
Never world class but often Sunday league
Thought Maitland Niles looked really solid.
Seriously love the guy. Exactly the type of squad player you want to have around. Works his socks of when called upon and actually fits well with really mobile, dynamic midfield partners.
It’s like having Samuel L. Jackson on the team. The coolest penalty taker I have seen.
Can’t make my mind up on AMN. Not sure he is good enough for the Arsenal but if I owned a mid table team I would buy him in a heartbeat.
I think it’s too early to decide to be fair. Considering he’s played most of his senior career in other positions, particularly LB and RB, I think making a call now about whether he’s good enough for Arsenal at CM is premature. I think he’s given us some pretty solid performances at CM the few times he’s been given the opportunity though and I’m hopeful. I find it extremely satisfying that after seeing him grow up with us, having put in some really great performances as a utility player (he played a big part in the semi-final and final of… Read more »
But we are a mid-tab…. Ah never mind.
Elneny – he doesn’t care if he plays 9 minutes or 90, he just wants to help his teammates, and he has a bloody good time while doing it
And breathe!
Eddie walking it in bro.
Give the assist to the shin pad.
The reaction of both Eddie and Arteta were priceless. both thought he’d fucked it and both relieved. Eddie doing the collar pull (yikes) was on point. Glad for him it went in.
Second string players are learning to press and play high octane.. decent performance overall…we have in a few areas..weldone..
How very Arsenal of us that our best corner take is a bench player.
Great game, though.
Really hope Ben White is ok. He was taking the absolute piss out of them in the first half. Also Maitland Niles is a player.
Good result, ainsley played well as did Leno and white before his Injury hope it’s not too bad 🙏 bit of momentum building
Thought Cedric was MOM.
Scrappy second string performance. Nketiah got a bit lucky with his goal, but good steal and nice lob over the keeper. Thought ANM put in a good shift. Bring it on!
Anybody else noticed how much more dangerous we are getting on corners and set pieces? That French guy Jover Arteta took from City is looking like he is paying off. Do not remember the last time we were consistently dangerous from set pieces!
. Hope Benjamin White is precautionary, the way he was driving into midfield was pure class.
I’m really pleased! Not only with the result but first of all with the mentality of our “””fringe””” players. Every single one of them put in a good shift tonight.
Hats off!
They did well considering some haven’t played for weeks and it was a bit of a makeshift team. Only disappointments were the White injury and Balogun not getting any game time. On to the quarter finals. Here’s hoping for an easy game. Maybe Spurs at home if they get past Burnley.
I’ll take Sunderland at home. Preferably Preston North End.
Surprised Balogun didn’t get a run in. Would have liked Nketiah to have gone off post-goal to allow him to play. Maybe he wasn’t fully match fit..? Good result though! Leeds seemed lost throughout the game, and our second string looked relatively comfortable.
What is going on with Martinelli?
Something doesn’t look right with him. He is no longer the lad who made us sit on the edge of our seats.
Arteta has destroyed his confidence as well as injury’s, hopefully he can build it back up and become the superstar he has the potential to be.
Maybe this is where Martinelli is at the moment. No doubt he has potential but one goal against Chelsea doesn’t make him Ronaldo. I want him to succeed and maybe one match every month isn’t enough for him to prove himself but it is not an option to send him out on loan. Who would you have him replace against Leicester on Saturday? Saka? ESR? He is stil young and will have to cope with the situation.
Keep the faith he’ll get there
Shiver me Chambers.. First touches don’t get any better than that.
Great win today but hope Ben white injury is not bad, hopefully he will play by the weekend. Let’s keep the momentum going boys.
The only thing more sure than the sun rising in the morning is Pepe cutting to the inside
Robben made a title-winning career out of it, you know.
Happy for AMN.
Arteta out.
Kroenke out.
Oh wait! 8 without a loss. 3 points from 4th!
I like my team. Still a lot of upside too. There is a lot of upside.
It felt to me like Martinelli was feeling the pressure to perform in a rare opportunity for some minutes and that affected his play.
Some bright moments, but he strikes me as someone who needs to play himself into form
I think you’re right, he burst onto the scene with energetic performances and the freedom that comes with being young, new and fearless, and it seems like these days he carries a heavy weight of expectation and pressure from feeling like he needs to be amazing every game – it happens to a lot of players when they’re trying to prove their way into the first team unfortunately. I don’t think he’s ready to start EPL games but he’ll definitely find his way there if he can put in consistently good performances in cup games. He thrived in past European… Read more »
Honestly the thing I a thought was most off for him was his rusty touch. Energy was there, driving approach was there. Just needs match sharpness and a good crew around him.
Nketiah shit himself for one split second I bet haha
Another nice win.
The (minor, I hope) injury to Ben aside, the biggest set-back tonight was Theo’s missed penalty against Chelski
Martinelli has been left out for so long, it looks like he has lost of lot of ground. What a shame with playing careers being relatively short.
He’s 20!
He’s still plenty young. His primary concern is getting healthy enough to not be carrying an injury leading to a string of knock-on maladies.
Martinelli’s made 7 appearances so far this season (4 starting, 3 off the bench). Can we please stop acting as though he’s been exiled.
Hoping he can regain form but it’s not exactly unheard of for young players to be inconsistent, is it?
Decent win.
But should be tempered with fact that we are playing half a Leeds squad struggling at present.
Leicester a very different test. We’ve been here before.
And how people’s expectations have changed.
Once Top 4 not good enough now any trophy will do.
As I said, Arteta needs to get 4 or 5 League wins back to back to truly say he is getting this team turned around.
Still far too many casual moments we were left unpunished bc of quality of opponents lacking.