Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City maintained its 100 percent record of making it out of the third round of the Carabao Cup after overcoming Chelsea while Arsenal was sent packing by Premier League rivals Brighton and Liverpool survived a penalty shootout to book a place in the next round.
Playing at home, City took the game seriously by naming a strong starting XI and traded early chances with the visitors with Christian Pulisic and Lewis Hall drawing saves from City’s Stefan Ortega while Jack Grealish and Julian Alvarez threatened Eduard Mendy’s goal.
Riyad Mahrez finally broke the deadlock in the 52nd minute with a well-taken freekick before Alvarez scored from a rebound in the 58th to seal a comfortable win.
The win over Chelsea, who were beaten in the final of the last Carabao Cup, keeps City on track for their fifth title in six years.
Meanwhile, Premier League leaders Arsenal were completely outplayed 3-1 by Brighton at home with their much-changed playing XI the only respite for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Eddie Nketiah scored the first goal before Danny Welbeck, Kaoru Mitoma and Tariq Lamptey scored three unanswered goals for the visitors.
Their London rivals Tottenham also crashed out of the competition after slumping to a 2-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest as their poor run continues while West Ham were another Premier League side that tumbled out of the competition losing 10-9 on penalties to Blackburn Rovers.
Liverpool, Newcastle United and Southampton also needed penalties to beat Derby County, Crystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday respectively to reach the fourth round of the competition.
