Wednesday’s EFL Cup round-up: Gabriel Jesus lifts Arsenal into last four as Newcastle United see off Brentford and Liverpool scrape past Southampton  | OneFootball

The quarter-final of the 2024-25 EFL Cup got underway on Wednesday as Arsenal welcomed Crystal Palace to the Emirates Stadium, while Newcastle United and Liverpool faced off against Brentford and Southampton respectively.

A shock exit was on the cards at the Emirates Stadium when Jean-Philippe Mateta opened the scoring within four minutes to give Palace the lead against Arsenal, but Gabriel Jesus had other ideas.

Following a relatively quiet first half, the Brazilian levelled matters within the opening 10 minutes of the second period before adding a further two goals, the second of which came in the 81st minute.

Ex-Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah pulled one back four minutes later to set up a frenetic finale, albeit all to no avail as Mikel Arteta’s men held on to book their place in the last four.

Fresh off the back of their 2-1 defeat to city rivals Chelsea, Brentford visited St James’ Park to square off against a confident Newcastle side who put four past Leicester City at the weekend.

Amid the current speculation surrounding his future, Sandro Tonali grabbed two first-half goals to leave Eddie Howe’s men in pole position, after which Fabian Schar sealed the deal 20 minutes from time.

Since going four matches without a win, the Magpies have now won consecutive matches by a combined score of 7-1 and are currently two games away from a second EFL Cup final in three years.

Defending champions Liverpool were handed perhaps the easiest quarter-final draw against manageress Southampton, although their task on the South Coast was anything but easy.

First-half strikes from Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott set Arne Slot’s men on their way, after which a stubborn Saints side held firm to prevent the league leaders from finding the back of the net again and pulled one back just shy of the hour mark through Cameron Archer.

A 2-1 win was far from pretty, but it was enough to keep Liverpool’s quest for back-to-back EFL Cups alive as they march on into the last four.

The final quarter-final clash sees Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United lock horns in North London tomorrow, at the end of which the semi-final draw will be conducted.