Teenager Jones keeps his cool to send Arsenal crashing out
A CRAZY Carabao Cup fourthround game had an equally dramatic finish as Liverpool beat Arsenal 5-4 in a shootout after Divock Origi’s goal deep into added time to make it 5-5 had taken it to penalties at Anfield.
The game maybe did not have the aesthetic finesse of the 4-4 on this ground in 2009, when Andrey Arshavin scored all of the visitors’ goals, but it was no less entertaining on a number of different levels.
Aside from 10 goals there were a couple of non-decisions which looked prime candidates to be overruled for VAR, had it been employed in this competition, backstories aplenty and, of course, Origi’s added-time equaliser.
Liverpool scored through Shkodran Mustafi’s own goal, James Milner’s penalty, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Origi (two).
On target for Arsenal were Gabriel Martinelli (two), Lucas Torreira, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Joe Willock.
In the shootout Gunners’ substitute Dani Ceballos was the only one to miss as teenage Scouser Curtis Jones scored the winner in front of the Kop.
Marcus Rashford’s longrange missile fired Manchester United past Chelsea and into the quarter-finals.
The England striker crashed in an unstoppable drive from fully 30 yards out to secure a 2-1 win and a place in the last eight.
Chelsea had hauled themselves level through Michy Batshuayi after Rashford opened the scoring from the penalty spot.
But Rashford’s stunning freekick ended Chelsea’s sevenmatch winning streak as they failed to get a measure of revenge on United for their 4-0 defeat on the opening day of the season.
The teams have gone in opposite directions since then, with United struggling for form while Chelsea are fourth in the Premier League and joint top of their Champions League group.
However, it is now three straight wins – all away from
PICTURE: MIKE EGERTON/PA home – for United to further ease the pressure on manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Boss Dean Smith insisted Aston Villa must target Wembley glory after their 2-1 win over Wolves.
Ahmed Elmohamady’s winner sent Villa into the last eight for the first time since 2012.
Anwar El Ghazi gave the hosts the lead but Patrick Cutrone’s second-half effort briefly levelled.
Villa have beaten Sky Bet League Two Crewe and youthful Brighton and Wolves teams to reach the last eight and Smith wants the club to win the trophy for the first time in 23 years.
He said: “For me football is about trying to win something. Why not go all out to win it? You only get three opportunities (a season) if you’re not in Europe.
“You enter three competitions and the title probably slipped away from us on Saturday so we have the Carabao Cup and FA Cup to fight for.
“We want to finish as high as we can but this is a priority as well.
“We have a proud history in this cup, we’ve won it five times, and want to continue to win it more and have days like we had in May at Wembley.
“There’s still a long way to go but it was a deserved victory.”
El Ghazi fired Villa ahead after 29 minutes when John Ruddy just failed to keep his low drive out.
Villa dominated but were stunned when Cutrone turned in Taylor Perry’s shot nine minutes after the break.
It was just the striker’s second goal in 17 games since his summer arrival from AC Milan but it was cancelled out three minutes later with Elmohamady’s winner.
The full-back got ahead of Bruno Jordao to stab in Henri Lansbury’s near-post free-kick for his third Villa goal and first in over a year.
Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo said: “It was a tough game, Villa are a good team, we know Dean, he has good ideas and it was hard. We managed well, we had our moments.”