December 22, (THEWILL) – Arsenal advanced to the Carabao Cup semi-finals with a 5-1 win over Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night, on the backs of an Eddie Nketiah hat-trick.
The Gunners made a strong start and came close to taking the lead in the 11th minute when Nuno Tavares’ cut-back was deflected into the crossbar by Sunderland midfielder Elliot Embleton.
Mikel Arteta’s side did go up just five minutes later, when Nketiah demonstrated his predatory instinct from a corner. Rob Holding’s header was palmed invitingly into the path of the Arsenal forward as he rose highest from Cedric Soares’ throw, and he shoved the ball over the line.
After being teed up by Emile Smith Rowe on the outskirts of the box, Folarin Balogun went close on two occasions, heading a Cedric cross wide at the far post and hitting straight at Sunderland goalkeeper Lee Burge.
Another well-executed move down the right-hand side, allowed Arsenal extend their lead on 26 minutes. Nicolas Pepe and Cedric collaborated well before Cedric’s deflection off Callum Doyle swept the Portuguese’s pull-back into the roof of the net.
The Black Cats, on the other hand, clawed their way back into the game almost immediately. Alex Pritchard, Lee Johnson’s star player, launched his team forward, and when Nathan Broadhead was passed through by Embleton, he dinked his finish over the onrushing Bernd Leno with ease.
On the stroke of half-time, Smith Rowe pierced the palms of the Sunderland goalkeeper with a rasping volley, before Arsenal restored their two-goal lead when the game resumed.
Tavares won his battle down the left side, and Nketiah was on hand to score his second of the game with a brilliant finish across the front post after fizzing the ball across goal.
The 22-year-old then completed his hat-trick to extend his incredible Carabao Cup scoring run. Pepe did an excellent job of avoiding Denver Hume’s attentions with a clever nutmeg before dragging the ball back into the direction of Nketiah, who calmly flicked the ball past Burge in the Sunderland goal.
The Emirates crowd was brought to its feet as 18-year-old academy graduate Charlie Patino was handed his Gunners debut with just over ten minutes to play when Martin Odegaard threatened a fifth goal of the game with a free kick that whistled just past the post.
In stoppage time, the midfielder added Arsenal’s fifth goal, arriving in the penalty area just in time to stroke Pepe’s cut-back into the bottom corner.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
