The last time Arsenal were in the EFL Quarter finals Eddie Nketiah scored a hat-trick | OneFootball

Arsenal return to League Cup quarter final action for first time in three years versus Crystal Palace.

Arsenal will host Crystal Palace tonight come 7:30 pm in the League Cup Quarter-finals. The occasion marks the first time The Gunners have reached this stage of the tournament since three seasons ago.

The last time was during the 2021/22 season which witnessed Arsenal go on to lose to the eventual League Cup winners Liverpool in the semis, following a 0-2 defeat on aggregate.

However in order to get to the semis they had to overcome Sunderland in front of 60,000 keen eyed spectators in the quarters. The North Londoner’s trampled the League One side at the time overwhelmingly 5-1 with strong conviction, witnessing Eddie Nketiah seal a stunning hat-trick.

Arsenal took an early lead through Nketiah within the opening 17 minutes who bopped in Rob Holding’s denied header on the rebound from a corner.

Ten minutes later Nicolas Pepe doubled the Gunners lead from close range.

Unexpectedly Sunderland grabbed a goal back cutting the advantage in half, after Nathan Broadhead chipped Bernd Leno from inside the 25-yard box.

Within minutes of the second interval commencing Nketiah restored the two goal lead, ferociously tucking away Nuno Tavares low cross from the centre of the box.

Moments before the hour mark Nketiah claimed his hat-trick, after back heeling from inside the area Nicolas Pepe’s low pass from the right hand side of the box.

In the dying seconds of the encounter super sub Charlie Patino scored on his Arsenal debut sending Arsenal into the League Cup semi final.

A Euphoric Mikel Arteta told Sky Sports:” It’s great, we’re in the semi-finals and that’s what it was about today. We started well and scored two goals, but then we started not to respect our basics too much and we suffered a little, but then we picked up our level after that in the second half and we won.”

The Spaniard further spoke about the fine form of Nketiah that night: ”Eddie does what he does in training every day, he put the ball in the back of the net. I think I’ve been very consistent with what I think about him, how much we like him and his contribution for us every time he plays is top.

“I want (him to stay), but he just wants more minutes, it’s difficult to go against that, but as a club and personally I really want him to stay here. That’s what we are trying to do, he’s our player and a really important part of the squad.”

Tonight’s tie will arguably be more challenging for Arteta and his squad but nevertheless The Gunners will be firing to go as favourites against Crystal Palace and seal a place in the semifinals once again.

Liam Harding

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