England League Cup: Day 2 of the 3rd round

    There were only five matches on schedule on the second day of the third round of the Carabao Cup in England. There weren’t any shocking results like on Day One but nevertheless, there were some stories and a few comebacks.

    Arsenal defeated the Championship side Brentford 3:1. Danny Welbeck scored two goals to give the Gunners a 2:0 lead before Alan Judge made it 2:1 from a free kick. Late in time added on, Arsenal confirmed their win at the Emirates Stadium through an Alexandre Lacazette goal. Super Eagles striker, Alex Iwobi, was in the starting line-up and played the whole 90 minutes. Moses Odubajo was in the starting eleven for Brentford, playing in the right-back position. He was later substituted.

    In the biggest game of the night, Liverpool played hosts to Chelsea. Neither team fielded the same teams they had in the starting eleven at the weekend, in fact, both teams made eight changes. As expected, the recently retired from international duty Nigerian Victor Moses was in the team for Chelsea and he had a very good game. Liverpool took the lead in 2nd half through a Danny Sturridge scissor kick. He had two other great chances to score. After Liverpool missed their chances, Chelsea punished them and scored an a highly contentious equalizer, before Eden Hazard had a moment of brilliance, completing Chelsea’s comeback and giving them a 2:1 lead which would turn out to be the final score. Dominic Solanke set out the game on the bench for Liverpool.

    Victor Moses (www.thenff.com)

    Victor Moses (www.thenff.com)

    In an all Championship match-up, Nottingham Forest managed to defeat Stoke City at home. The final score was 3:2, even though Forest led 3:0 at one point and were cruising. Oghenekaro Etebo, the Nigerian midfielder, didn’t feature for Stoke in this defeat.

    In a late kick-off and the most dramatic of tonight’s matches, Tottenham defeated fellow Londoners Watford 4:2 in a penalty shootout. Isaac Success Ajayi was on target early on in the 2nd half for Watford giving them the lead. But the fun was yet to come when Watford had a player sent off in the 81st minute, allowing Dele Alli to score from the penalty spot. Then, a few minutes later, he scored another one to give the Spurs a lead. However, just short of 90 minutes, Etienne Capoue levelled the match. Penalties would decide the winner, and while Success scored his, his teammates were wasteful allowing Spurs to reach the 4th round of the Carabao Cup.

    In the fifth game of the night, West Ham had their biggest win in 35 years, beating Macclesfield Town 8:0.