DANNY BUOYED: ONE GOAL IS ENOUGH FOR ARSENAL
ON TARGET: Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck scores the only goal of the game as the Gunners beat West Ham United to claim a place in the League Cup semi-finals. Manchester City went through 4-3 on penalties after drawing 1-1 at Leicester City.
CLAUDIO BRAVO was Manchester City’s penalty hero as they beat Leicester City to reach the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
The Blues’ goalkeeper saved Riyad Mahrez’s spot-kick as Pep Guardiola’s side won 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw after extra time.
Jamie Vardy missed in the shoot-out after scoring a stoppage-time penalty to take the tie beyond 90 minutes, after Bernado Silva’s first-half goal looked to have given the visitors the win.
Leicester manager Claude Puel conceded before the game even if the visitors made wholesale changes that their team would still be one of the best in Europe.
Yet Puel’s decision to leave Mahrez, Vardy and Demarai Gray on the bench until the second half ultimately backfired.
Only Ilkay Gundogan and Eliaquim Mangala started for City following Saturday’s 4-1 win over Tottenham.
The Foxes started slowly and Kelechi Iheanacho, who moved from the Etihad to Leicester for £25m in the summer, struggled to make an impact before he helped his former club to a 26th-minute opener.
Iheanacho allowed Yaya Toure to take the ball, Gundogan strode forward to find Silva and the winger prodded the ball under the onrushing Hamer.
Leicester equalised in the seventh of eight minutes of stoppage-time when Kyle Walker tangled with Gray in the area and Vardy buried the penalty.
Danny Welbeck scored the only goal of a forgettable game as Arsenal booked a place in the semi-finals at the expense of West Ham.
The pair had shared a goalless draw in their Premier League meeting at the London Stadium last week, but this time, with both sides fielding very different line-ups, Welbeck made the difference to seal a 1-0 win.
The 27-year-old will not care how the goal came about as he got on the scoresheet for the first time since his double against Bournemouth on September 9.
It proved to be enough to book Arsene Wenger’s side their first League Cup semi-final place in six years as West Ham offered very little in the way of goal-threat.
The deadlock was broken before the interval in a fashion befitting the opening halfas Welbeck bundled home from close-range after Mathieu Debuchy had headed on Coquelin’s perfect pass.