With a hat-trick from Brazilian Gabriel Jesús, Arsenal came back on home soil against Crystal Palace to win 3-2 and advance to the semi-finals of the English League Cup, a stage that Liverpool and Newcastle also reached this Wednesday.
The match in London had barely begun when a long cross from goalkeeper Dean Henderson sneaked behind the ‘Gunner’ defense for Jean-Philippe Mateta (minute 4) to put the ‘Eagles’ ahead.
Crystal Palace maintained the lead until half-time, but after passing through the locker room, Brazilian attacker Gabriel Jesús scored a hat-trick (54, 73 and 81) to send Arsenal to the semi-finals of the League Cup.
The Brazilian’s three goals, very similar in terms of execution, consisted of finishes from the right wing, without Gabriel Jesús’s sights shaking every time he saw himself face to face with Henderson.
“Sometimes I have a problem with missing a goal,” commented Gabriel Jesús after the match. “I’m working hard on training, on finishing, on positioning myself better. I think the hard work has paid off,” he said.
In the final stretch of the match, former Arsenal player Eddie Nketiah added excitement to the match (85). The result, however, did not suffer any further surprises, and Mikel Arteta’s men will compete in the semifinal.
One of their rivals could be Liverpool, current champions, who suffered more than necessary to win 2-1 at Southampton’s home. In the duel between the leader and the bottom of the Premier League, the ‘Reds’ went to half-time 2-0, after a comfortable first 45 minutes in which they dominated the match.
– marca Núñez, salva Kelleher –
The Uruguayan Darwin Núñez perfectly defined a face-to-face against goalkeeper Alex McCarthy (24) and minutes later, Harvey Elliot concluded a great collective action with a low shot that hit the post (32).
But the ‘Saints’ showed pride in the second half, and in a stretch of the game in which they took control, they punished Liverpool with a goal from Cameron Archer (59) and a few moments later, the Irish goalkeeper Caomhin Kallaher saved the tie with a great hand (61) against Archer.
Kelleher had to apply himself again in the final minutes to avoid a goal from Chilean Ben Brereton Díaz (88),
Newcastle sealed their ticket more calmly, after dominating Brentford 3-1 on their home field, led by a double from Italian midfielder Sandro Tonali.
The Italian recovered a dead ball on the front line to open the scoring with a shot from outside the area (9) and achieved the double after finishing only a corner kick (43).
A corner kick poorly cleared by Brentford was taken advantage of by Brazilian Bruno Guimaraes to assist Swiss Fabian Schar (69) into an empty goal. In added time, Yoane Wissa scored the proud goal for Brentford (90+1).
The last semi-finalist will be decided on Thursday, with the duel between Tottenham and Manchester United in London.
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