Nick Ames was our man down Ashburton Grove tonight. His report is in, so get clicking, good people. Thanks for reading this MBM. Stay safe and warm. Nighty night!
Lee Johnson’s turn. “I thought we had a really good spell after we scored, and Arsenal found it difficult to get us off the ball. Overall I have to say I’m very proud of the players. We’ve been beaten 5-1 but at the same time we have had spells in that football match. There are a couple of poor goals in there, good from Arsenal’s point of view. It’s a good experience for our players. Now they know the standard. Even our senior players can take that away. They have to be at their maximum. They’ll also get confidence from that game, we did carry a threat. There’s a lot of positives. It was a really good game and we can use it as a motivation.”
Mikel Arteta talks to Sky. “It was great. We are in the semis. We started well enough, but had a period when we suffered. Then we picked it up in the second half. Eddie Nketiah wants more minutes, it’s difficult to go against that, but as a club and me personally, I really want him to stay here, and that’s what we are trying to do. He is a really important part of our squad. Charlie Patino is a player with a lot of personality, so we’re delighted for him, it’s something special.” He also wouldn’t be drawn on whether we’ll see Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang over the Christmas period.
The man of the match, Eddie Nketiah, speaks to Sky. “It’s a great feeling. I just want to say thank you to my team-mates. I had some really good assists today. I just had to be in the right place. It was nice to interact with the fans, you can’t beat having them in the stadium. We started a bit sloppy but we buckled up and improved in the second half. All in all, I think it’s a good display. This competition is where I’ve been getting starts and opportunities to play, so wherever I’m asked to play I’ll do my best for the team. I’m there if my manager needs me. I’m desperate to play football, but all I can do is keep working hard and hopefully I’ll get opportunities. I’m here, I’m under contract, and as long as I play for Arsenal I’ll give my all.”
Sunderland go across to applaud the 5,000 fans who had made it down to support them. They’re awarded a warm ovation. They might have been on the end of a beating tonight, but the League One side gave Arsenal a game in the first half, and this experience should serve a grand old club well as they fight to rise back up the divisions. Mikel Arteta meanwhile blows a kiss to the Arsenal faithful. Tonight couldn’t have gone any better for the Gunners, who are the first club through to the last four of the League Cup.
FULL TIME: Arsenal 5-1 Sunderland
Arsenal make it to the semis, thanks to a hat-trick from Eddie Nketiah, and a cherry-on-the-cake debut goal from 18-year-old Charlie Patino. Nketiah walks off with the match ball, not a bad early Christmas present at all!
90 min +2: Kimpioka comes on for Stewart.
GOAL! Arsenal 5-1 Sunderland (Patino 90+1)
What a moment for Charlie Patino! Xhaka finds Pepe down the right. Pepe pulls back, and Patino slides in to steer a lovely shot into the bottom right! He runs off with a look of sheer delight, mixed with a little disbelief, spreading across his face. A goal on debut, and another star is born! Merry Christmas, Charlie!
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90 min: “I suppose we could call it a cricket score: England’s after the first over of every innings in Australia.” Simon McMahon, ladies and gents. He’s here all week. Try the mince pies.
88 min: Sunderland’s wait for a first League Cup goes on. They’ve lost two finals in the past, in 1985 to Norwich and 2014 to Manchester City. Look how cute Steve Bruce looks here!
86 min: Doyle is booked for an agricultural tackle on Patino. Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?
85 min: Martinelli cuts in from the left and slips a ball down the channel for Nketiah, who goes over under pressure from Wright. For a second, it looks as though the referee has pointed to the spot, and cheers go up accordingly, but it’s a goal kick instead. It would have been a soft penalty.
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83 min: Both players are good to continue.
82 min: Martinelli and Wright accidentally clash heads. Both are down in the centre circle. On come the medical men.
80 min: Smith Rowe is replaced by the highly regarded 18-year old Charlie Patino. A huge roar greets the debutant.
79 min: Nothing comes of the corner.
78 min: Flanagan channels his inner Beckenbauer and romps down the right wing to win a corner. Before it can be taken, Gooch and Emberton are replaced by Evans and O’Brien.
76 min: Martinelli drops a shoulder with a view to sending Wright away for a copy of the Standard and 20 JPS. Wright upends him with a super-late tackle and goes into the book.
75 min: Pritchard goes straight for goal, whipping the free kick towards the top left. An easy parry for Leno.
74 min: Gooch is blocked by Cedric out on the left. Free kick. Sunderland throw plenty of men into the six-yard box.
73 min: Arsenal can wrap a couple of their big names in cotton wool now. Off come Odegaard and White, on come Martinelli and Gabriel.
71 min: Sunderland, to their eternal credit, continue to press and harry. But they can’t get hold of the ball right now.
69 min: Pepe draws a foul from Doyle, and this is a free kick in a dangerous position on the right. Everyone in the box! Odegaard shapes to cross, then tries to surprise Burge with a snapshot towards the bottom right. The effort sails harmlessly wide.
67 min: Tavares whips in from the left. Pepe should meet it at the far post, but mistimes his lunge towards the ball and the danger is gone. Sunderland are hanging on now, desperately trying to keep the score respectable. On that subject, here’s Simon McMahon: “I see that Sunderland have Gooch, Stewart and Broad(head) in their starting XI, while Arsenal have Holding and Tavaré(s). Maybe we’ll get a cricket score?”
65 min: Pepe romps past poor Hume again, leaving him in the dust with an adroit pullback and flick forward. He tees up Odegaard, whose shot is parried well by Burge.
63 min: Thing is, Sunderland haven’t even played badly. To the contrary, they’ve impressed for much of the match, pressing efficiently and asking a few questions of Arsenal. But Premier League quality will out.
61 min: Smith Rowe and Tavares combine down the left. The ball’s fired low and hard towards Nketiah, who tries to burst into the box but takes a heavy touch and isn’t able to get a shot away. For the first time this evening, Sunderland are beginning to look a little ragged.
60 min: Pepe, having just stripped Hume of his dignity, breezes past him down the right again. Hume is forced to drag him down, and into the book he goes.
GOAL! Arsenal 4-1 Sunderland (Nketiah 58)
Nketiah completes his hat-trick with another sumptuous finish! Pepe nutmegs Hume along the byline to the right of goal, and pulls back for Nketiah, who back-flicks into the bottom left. That is delightful! Arsenal have one foot and four toes in the semis now.
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57 min: Hume busies himself down the left and feeds Stewart further up the flank. Stewart’s low cross-cum-shot is smothered by Leno.
56 min: Xhaka comes on for Balogun.
55 min: Sunderland are this close to reducing their arrears. Embleton saunters in from the right and, from distance, sends a vicious curler towards the top-left corner. Leno’s beaten all ends up, but the ball sails inches wide. What an effort. It would have been some goal.
53 min: Balogun is booked for a frontier-justice lunge on Wright, who seconds before had clashed, fairly, with Nketiah. The referee calms everything down quickly enough.
52 min: Now Hume crosses from the left, but Stewart is flagged offside in the middle. A good response, this.
51 min: Sunderland aren’t going to give up yet, and Neil drives down the inside-left channel to win a corner. Pritchard’s delivery is cleared by a booming White header.
GOAL! Arsenal 3-1 Sunderland (Nketiah 49)
... but they’re up against it now. Some space for Tavares down the left. He whips low, towards the near post, where Nketiah flicks gorgeously across Burge and into the bottom right. A delightful finish, and Arsenal’s two-goal cushion is restored!
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48 min: Pritchard fizzes a low cross in from the right. It’s a dangerous ball, but nobody else in yellow has kept up with play. Hume tries to meet it at the far post, but he’s never getting there. Throw, but an early sign that Sunderland plan to give this a good go.
47 min: Having lost Broadhead to a hamstring problem, another injury would be a huge blow to Sunderland’s front line. Thankfully it appears Stewart is good to continue.
Sunderland get the second half started. Within ten seconds, Stewart is down, Balogun having accidentally caught him on the right boot.
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Arsenal 2-1 Sunderland
The Gunners mope off. Sunderland have a spring in their step. A reminder that Arsenal shipped a two-goal lead the last time they hosted Sunderland in the League Cup, losing 3-2 in November 2002, Marcus Stewart the two-goal hero for the Black Cats. History isn’t about to repeat itself, is it?
45 min +3: Sunderland finish the half strongly, winning a corner from which Pritchard warms Leno’s gloves.
45 min: Broadhead won’t be able to continue. He trudges off, a black cloud over his head, but at least he’s made a mark on this match with that delicious finish. Hume comes on in his stead.
44 min: Smith Rowe meets a half clearance with a blistering volley that’s well parried by Burge. Sunderland aren’t happy, as Broadhead was down elsewhere, having possibly tweaked something. Arsenal were under no obligation to play the ball out, but play eventually stops and on comes the trainer.
43 min: The first lull of the evening. They’re allowed. They’ve earned it.
41 min: Pepe juggles with the ball as he enters the box from the right. He can’t quite get it under control for a shot, so spins and decides to go down, claiming a foul by Gooch. The referee isn’t interested, and here’s a reminder that there’s no VAR tonight, so play clatters on. This is breathless and highly entertaining.
39 min: Sunderland have enjoyed the lion’s share of possession since going two down. This has been a very impressive period of play from the League One side, who are currently hassling Arsenal in a no-nonsense fashion.
37 min: Pritchard whips the free kick into the mixer. Flanagan should score from six yards, stooping to head, but sends a dismal effort wide right. His blushes are partially spared as the flag goes up, correctly, for offside.
36 min: Sunderland are pinning Arsenal back here. Flanagan is caught in a pincer movement between Smith Rowe and Nketiah, and it’s a free kick in a dangerous position out on the right, a chance to load the box.
35 min: A corner from the left leads to one from the right. The second one is blootered clear by Smith Rowe.
34 min: Winchester latches onto a loose ball down the right, cuts infield, and sends a low curler towards the bottom left. Leno is forced to extend fully and turn around the post for a corner.
33 min: Arsenal nearly restore their two-goal cushion in short order, Balogun latching onto a long pass down the right. Burge comes out of his area, copping Balogun’s first-time shot straight in his startled face! Sunderland clear, and we have a game on here!
GOAL! Arsenal 2-1 Sunderland (Broadhead 31)
Pritchard spins out of trouble in the middle of the park and sends Embleton bombing down the middle. Embleton slips a perfect ball down the inside-left channel for Broadhead, who reaches the box and dinks over Leno, sending the ball elegantly bouncing into the empty net. Now that’s a response!
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29 min: Arsenal ping it about, probing this way and that. Sunderland have deflated a little since the second, understandably so in the circumstances. Their support does its level best to offer encouragement.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Sunderland (Pepe 27)
Pepe Runs At Gooch Down The Right (pt. XXXVII in an ongoing series). He exchanges passes with Cedric and, upon receiving the return, roofs a shot into the top right. The ball was helped in by a deflection off Wright.
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26 min: Broadhead runs at White down the left, forcing the Arsenal defender all the way back. He feeds Gooch, who loops towards Stewart at the far post. Stewart is over-eager in his efforts to win a header, bundling Elneny over. Free kick.
24 min: Doyle passes straight to Pepe, and soon enough the ball is at the feet of Balogun, just inside the Sunderland box, in room to the left. Once again, the young man’s finishing lets him down, scuffing a first-time sidefoot straight at Burge. Somewhere in the multiverse, Balogun has just scored twice in as many minutes.
22 min: It should be two. Pepe slips Cedric into space down the right. He reaches the byline and loops towards the far post. Balogun, six yards out, heads harmlessly down and wide left. A bad miss from a player who has been rattling them in for the under-23s.
20 min: Gooch has struggled against Pepe from the get-go, and now he picks up a booking after sliding in hysterically from behind. Should Sunderland make it to the semis, he’ll now miss the first leg.
19 min: Sunderland come again, Pritchard crossing from the right and finding Stewart on the edge of the six-yard box. Stewart attempts a backheel that doesn’t come off, but this is a good response to falling behind from the League One team.
18 min: Sunderland, to their great credit, come straight back at Arsenal, Gooch sailing into space down the left. However his attempt at a cross is no good whatsoever, sailing deep into the stand behind the goal.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Sunderland (Nketiah 17)
Cedric swings the corner into the mixer. Holding rises and plants a header goalwards. Burge does extremely well to parry, but the ball falls to Nketiah, who bundles the ball over the line from close range. It had been coming.
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16 min: Pepe runs at Gooch down the right again. As he threatens to break into the box, Stewart comes back to help, and clips him on the ankle. Free kick. Odegaard swings it to the far post, where Stewart makes up for his mistake by clearing out for a corner with players lurking. However ...
15 min: Tavares makes good down the left again. His looping cross is volleyed clear by Gooch. Arsenal are beginning to turn up the heat a little.
13 min: Nothing comes of the resulting corner. Arsenal so close to a fortunate opening goal.
12 min: Tavares and Smith Rowe combine swiftly down the left. The former crosses low and hard. The ball takes a huge deflection off Embleton, swinging a foot to intercept, loops over Burge, and twangs off the crossbar! Pepe gets onto the rebound but his shot is blocked out for a corner.
10 min: The loudest roar of the evening so far as Tavares miscues a simple pass and hoicks the ball straight out of play. Sunderland’s travelling support are in party mode right now, and they’re making themselves heard.
9 min: Pepe runs at Gooch down the right and executes a crisp nutmeg, but Doyle comes across to blooter clear. Both teams are very much on the front foot.
7 min: Arsenal go up the other end, Cedric crossing from the right, Nketiah heading harmlessly over the bar. A lovely open start to this match. Meanwhile here’s Charles Antaki, a self-styled “Self-Righteous Fan” who writes: “The TV pictures spanning the crowd show about one in a thousand wearing a mask, surrounded by jabbering, and later no doubt shouting and screaming, other fans in close proximity. I’ve just got over blaming Thatcher, so now it’s about time to blame someone currently in authority (of a kind). Oh, and Balogun! That will be interesting.”
5 min: Stewart tries to burst into the Arsenal box down the inside-left channel. He gets past Elneny, then trips over. He wants a penalty, but he’s not getting one, and there’s no VAR tonight, so that’s that. There didn’t seem to be a whole load of contact.
3 min: Sunderland take the first shot in anger. Gooch crosses from the left. The ball’s not cleared, and falls to Pritchard, who swivels cutely to the left of the D and sends a fairly weak effort straight at Leno.
2 min: The Emirates is far from full, understandably so given the situation with Covid, a few days before Christmas. Sunderland have taken over 5,000 down with them.
Arsenal get the first half underway ... but only after a knee is taken by the home side. Sunderland opt to remain standing. A light smattering of boos as a result. Off we go, then.
The teams are out! Arsenal are in their famous red and white combination, which means Sunderland can’t wear theirs; the visitors sport yellow and blue instead. “Somewhat old-school of Sunderland to bring a Winchester to a duel with the Gunners,” writes Peter Oh, quick on the draw as ever. We’ll be off in a sec!
Sunderland boss Lee Johnson, who took Bristol City to the semi-finals in 2018, speaks to Sky. “It should be fun. The boys have got to enjoy it. Sunderland have been in the Premier League but these boys haven’t, so they’ve got to enjoy the occasion. It’s a short career and a fantastic stadium, the surface is brilliant, and we have to bring our best because Arsenal are a fantastic team. I believe in my players. I think we’ll be a threat for anybody. I trust us in possession to be dangerous. It’s a great test and a bit learning process on the pitch.”
Mikel Arteta talks to Sky. He first reports that Ainsley Maitland-Niles is ill, while Calum Chambers has tested positive for Covid-19. “We are giving some players some minutes who absolutely deserve them. In the case of Folarin Balogun, he has not been around us too much but he deserves a chance with us tonight. He will have more opportunities. He should enjoy the moment. Complacency is a word that does not exist in football, so we have to be at our best.”
Arsenal make nine changes after beating Leeds United 4-1 at Elland Road on Saturday evening. Only Ben White and Martin Odegaard retain their places. Bernd Leno returns in goal, while Cedric Soares, Rob Holding, Nuno Tavares, Mohamed Elneny, Nicolas Pepe, Eddie Nketiah, Folarin Balogun and Emile Smith Rowe also start. Still no Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the squad.
Sunderland make two changes from the side that drew 1-1 at Ipswich over the weekend. Lee Burge and Elliot Embleton replace Ron-Thorben Hoffmann and Leon Dajaku.
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The teams
Arsenal: Leno, Cedric, Holding, White, Tavares, Elneny, Odegaard, Pepe, Smith Rowe, Nketiah, Balogun.
Subs: Tierney, Partey, Gabriel, Saka, Lacazette, Ramsdale, Xhaka, Martinelli, Patino.
Sunderland: Burge, Wright, Flanagan, Doyle, Gooch, Winchester, Neil, Embleton, Pritchard, Stewart, Broadhead.
Subs: Evans, O’Brien, Cirkin, Xhemajli, Patterson, Younger, Hume, Dunne, Mbunga-Kimpioka.
Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire).
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Preamble
Fourth in the First Division plays third in League One. You’ve probably got this down as a home banker, then, especially if you’ve also factored in the recent head-to-head record between these teams: Arsenal have won eight of the last 11 matches, to the aggregate tune of 22-5, and the other three games were 0-0 draws. With all this in mind, Sunderland are priced at 14s to win this League Cup quarter-final.
But it’s football, and you never know. Covid is doing its worst, while Arsenal historically go freestyle in the League Cup anyway, so chances are we won’t be seeing Mikel Arteta’s first-choice XI tonight. Sunderland on the other hand are unlikely to make too many changes, with their next match nearly a week away, and can play with the underdog spirit of a team with nothing to lose. A perfectly balanced cup-tie, then? We shall see, soon enough. Kick off at the Emirates is at 7.45pm GMT. It’s on!
