Man City out of the League Cup; Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea advance

September 28, 2023 in Sports

NEWCASTLE, England (AP) — Manchester City seem to win every competition they enter these days except the English League Cup.

Newcastle beat Man City 1-0 on Wednesday in the third round of the League Cup which also eluded Pep Guardiola’s team during its storied treble last season. Guardiola’s agitation at his team’s first defeat of the season showed by getting a yellow card in the closing minutes for dissent to the match officials.

Leaving star starters Erling Haaland, Kyle Walker and Phil Foden on the bench, Man City still dominated the first half without making their possession count with a goal.

Alexander Isak struck in the 53rd for Newcastle which also made sweeping lineup changes to rest key players for another midweek fixture sandwiched between two Champions League challenges.

The goal was created by Joelinton’s dribble into and across the penalty area past four City defenders before squaring a pass that found Isak alone at the far post.

Foden and Jeremy Doku came on in the second half but could not find a leveler as Haaland stayed on the bench among the unused substitutes.

Man City won the League Cup five times in six seasons through 2021 and now has been eliminated in three straight seasons.

Newcastle were the League Cup beaten finalist last season against Manchester United.

LIVERPOOL COMEBACK

Liverpool are making a habit of conceding the first goal in games but are still unbeaten this season after beating Leicester 3-1 with three second-half goals.

A third-minute goal by Leicester’s Kasey McAteer made it five times in eight games that Liverpool trailed 1-0, and the second time they fell behind in the opening minutes at Anfield.

It would be Leicester’s only shot on target as Liverpool rallied with 29 goal attempts, 10 of them on target, and goals for Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai and Diogo Jota.

Szoboszlai’s was the pick in the 70th, a rifled shot from 20 metres that glanced off the underside of the crossbar on its way to the net.

ARSENAL, CHELSEA ADVANCE

Arsenal and Chelsea came through games against Premier League opposition as all nine matches on Wednesday were won in regulation time and did not go directly to a penalty shootout.

Arsenal won 1-0 at Brentford thanks to Reiss Nelson’s goal in the eighth minutes after poor passing in the home defense.

At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea fielded three players — Marc Cucurella, Robert Sanchez, Moises Caicedo — who were signed from Brighton in a 1-0 win over their old club.

Nicolas Jackson scored in the 50th for the Senegal forward’s second goal of the season.

TOP-TIER TEAMS WIN

Everton reversed a 4-0 loss at Aston Villa in the Premier League last month to take a 2-1 win at Villa Park. James Garner scored in the 15th and Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the 50th for Everton, which now have two away wins in five days after a troubled start to the season.

There were routine wins for Fulham and Bournemouth at home to second-tier teams.

Fulham’s foundation for a 2-1 win over Norwich was a 12th-minute goal by Carlos Vinícius. Bournemouth struck twice in a three-minute spell early in the second half to beat Stoke 2-0.

West Ham needed a 70th-minute goal by Tomas Soucek in a 1-0 win at third-tier Lincoln.

The highest scoring game saw Blackburn beat Cardiff 5-2 in a clash of second-tier teams.