Arsenal‘s young forward Eddie Nketiah sends them into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup after settling the tie in the latter stages of the win over Leicester at the King Power Stadium.
Christian Fuchs’ second-half own goal had earlier given the Gunners the lead but Nketiah bundled home in stoppage time to add gloss to the victory for a Mikel Arteta’s side that once again didn’t feature Mesut Ozil.
The result maintains their strong start to the season and secures a possible trip to Anfield to face Liverpool if the Premier League champions can beat Lincoln City on Thursday.
Watch the match highlights below
Related: Carabao Cup Round-up: Manchester United bounce back to win against Luton; Plus other results
It was a much more different starting XI from both teams with Brendan Rogers making 11 changes to the team that won against Burnley at the weekend.
Leicester, however, still started brightly with Kelechi Iheanacho forcing a save from Bernd Leno who did well to keep the game from slipping away early.
Arsenal soon got into full gear and created a string of chances through Reiss Nelson at the other end.
Bukayo Saka was a constant threat playing on the left and was the stand-out player for the night and could have gotten a penalty in the first half when Daniel Amartey seemed to have fouled him in the area.
James Maddison, moments later, curled a delightful shot beyond Leno but it bounces off the post into the welcoming hands of Leno.
Maddison would rue wasting a more inviting chance in the early stages of the second half, as Arsenal made them pay soon after.
Nicolas Pepe’s angled effort after a fine run came back off the post and was diverted into his own net by Fuchs.
Nketiah got his name registered on the scorer’s sheet on the night as substitute Hector Bellerin skipped past a couple of challenges and crossed for him to force the ball home from close range in stoppage time.
Arsenal have now qualified for the fourth round and could face Liverpool next.
Stats and facts from the match (Backed by Opta)
- Arsenal have progressed past the third round of the League Cup in 17 of the last 18 seasons.
- Eddie Nketiah has scored in back-to-back games for Arsenal in all competitions for the second time, also doing so earlier this year against Everton and Portsmouth.
