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LONDON. – Arsenal and Everton both suffered third-round exits from the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night, while Liverpool survived an epic penalty shoot-out to take their place in the fourth round.
Liverpool reached the last 16 of the Capital One Cup after one of the most extraordinary nights in this competition’s history, beating Middlesbrough 14-13 on penalties.
Shoot-outs are part of Liverpool’s heritage, they have won two European Cups and an FA Cup from 12 yards, but this was quite remarkable, as 30 penalties were taken after the match finished 2-2 at the end of extra-time.
A second string Arsenal side were beaten 2-1 at home by Southampton, while Everton were outgunned 3-0 at Swansea.
And Arsene Wenger’s wait to land the one piece of domestic silverware that has eluded him goes on.
The Arsenal boss went with a youthful side. Southampton manager Ronald Koeman chose experience and that won the day in a thrilling tie.
Southampton deserved it, too. Alexis Sanchez put Arsenal ahead with a brilliant free-kick on 14 minutes at the Emirates but a penalty from Dusan Tadic and a goal by Nathaniel Clyne won it for Koeman’s Southampton side.
Wenger defended his decision to field a hugely inexperienced defence as Arsenal crashed out of the Capital One Cup.
Arsenal’s back-four has been ravaged by injury in recent weeks; Mathieu Debuchy and Nacho Monreal were confirmed absentees for Tuesday night’s clash, while Wenger revealed following the defeat that Per Mertesacker (gluteal) and Kieran Gibbs (hamstring) were only fit enough for a place on the bench.
Wenger agreed his team deserved to go out as they failed to find a killer touch despite almost constant pressure in the second half.
He said: “The first reason of our defeat is the quality of our opponent and the performance of our opponent. And the fact that we couldn’t score.
“The amount of possession we had in the second half, if you play at home with that much possession, you have to score. Yes it’s disappointing because we had a good start and we made two errors on the two goals, and big ones.”
Wenger made 10 changes from the side that overcame Aston Villa 3-0 on Saturday. He claimed he had little choice with three front-line defenders struggling with niggles and bigger games looming.
Goalkeeper David Ospina also made his debut behind a raw defence of three teenagers, Hector Bellerin, Calum Chambers and Isaac Hayden.
“It’s disappointing because we had a good start, but we made big errors when we had the ball,” Wenger said. – AFP.
Online Reporter