Nick Ames was at the Emirates to see Arsenal turn it up in the second half and make it through to the quarter-finals. His report has landed, and here it is. Congratulations at the Gunners, as well as Chelsea and Sunderland, and thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Calum Chambers scored immediately on arrival as a second-half substitute, as Arsenal made it through to the last eight
Updated
Tue 26 Oct 2021 16.54 EDT
First published on Tue 26 Oct 2021 13.45 EDT
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Key events
Sunderland beat QPR 3-1 on pens
Meanwhile across town at Loftus Road, Charlie Austin, Ilias Chair and Yoann Barbet miss from the spot for Rangers, Lyndon Dykes their only successful taker. Aiden McGeady, Ross Stewart and Alex Pritchard all found the net for the League One side, and the 1985 and 2014 runners-up are through to the last eight!
Chelsea beat Southampton 4-3 on pens
Reece James for the win? Yep! In it goes, passed into the bottom right. Chelsea are in the quarters! Chelsea 4-3 Saints.
Oriol Romeu, once of Chelsea, needs to score. He rolls down the middle, Kepa having vacated the space. Ice cool. Chelsea 3-3 Saints.
It’s goal machine Ben Chilwell! He whips his into the right-hand side of the net. Chelsea 3-2 Saints.
Will Smallbone had a couple of chances to score during the 90 ... and now skies his penalty miles over the bar. Oh dear. Chelsea 2-2 Saints.
Callum Hudson-Odoi stutters ... and sneaks his shot into the bottom left past Forster’s hand. Chelsea 2-2 Saints.
Shane Long next. He gives Kepa the eyes and sends him the wrong way, dragging his shot into the bottom left. Chelsea 1-2 Saints.
Mason Mount goes for the top left. He clips it well, but Forster sticks out a strong arm to save brilliantly! Chelsea 1-1 Saints.
Theo Walcott, formerly of Arsenal, comes up to pelters. He threads towards the bottom left. Kepa reads and parries. First blood to Chelsea! Chelsea 1-1 Saints.
Marcos Alonso up first for Chelsea. Into the bottom right it goes, Fraser Forster no chance. Chelsea 1-1 Saints.
The shoot-out at Stamford Bridge begins. Adam Armstrong of Southampton is up first. Kepa makes a performative song and dance of feeling the ball before he can take the kick. Armstrong whips it into the top left. Chelsea 0-1 Saints.
Tonight’s two other fourth-round games are going to penalties. Chelsea and Southampton have drawn 1-1, QPR and Sunderland 0-0. News of those coming right up.
FULL TIME: Arsenal 2-0 Leeds United
Harrison has a late shot blocked. Gelhardt lashes another into the side netting. And that’s that. Arsenal will be in Saturday’s quarter-final draw, having earned payback for that 1968 final defeat!
90 min +2: Eddie Nketiah has been named man of the match by Sky.
90 min: Should Arsenal see this out - and they almost certainly will, with only four extra minutes remaining - they’ll be eight unbeaten in all competitions. A fine recovery after that cold start to the season.
89 min: Lacazette robs a dithering Phillips, barges past Cooper and Dallas, and creams a rising shot that only just misses the top-left corner.
87 min: Leeds are still battling - do you expect anything else from a Bielsa side? - but the passes aren’t sticking. They were marginally the better side in the first half; they’ve been very much second best since the restart.
85 min: Summerville bowls over Lokonga. Nothing much in it, but a chance for Arsenal to manage the clock, and they take their time over the restart.
83 min: Greenwood spins cutely down the right, reaches the byline, and fizzes low and hard into the six-yard box. An easy gather for Leno.
82 min: Not much going on. Mikel Arteta exudes an air of satisfied calm.
80 min: Phillips, perhaps still a bit rusty after his injury lay-off, shanks a simple pass out of play. Then, tired and frustrated, he’s late in on Lokonga. No booking. Leeds look a beaten docket.
78 min: By the way, to be fair to Nketiah, it was excellent anticipation, and a deliciously deft touch that took him around Meslier for the goal ... and he was more than aware that he nearly missed the tap-in with his scuff. A self-deprecating laugh as he celebrated with his team-mates.
76 min: Holding has picked up a knock and is replaced by Tavares.
74 min: Gelhardt has looked lively since coming on. He tears down the left channel and very nearly draws a reckless challenge from Holding just inside the Arsenal box. Holding recovers his senses just in time and pulls away, ushering Gelhardt out wide instead.
72 min: Arsenal make their first changes, replacing Elneny and Smith Rowe with Lokonga and Lacazette.
70 min: That could have been one of the all-time misses. Instead, it looks like being the killer blow. If you really can land a killer blow with your shin. Leeds respond with their final roll of the dice: Summerville and Greenwood come on for Rodrigo and James.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Leeds (Nketiah 69)
A long ball down the left channel. Cooper’s poor header back to his keeper is latched onto by Nketiah, who intercepts, circumvents Meslier, and bundles into the open net. Bundle being the operative word: he shins it from a couple of yards, and the ball only just squeaks across the face of goal and into the bottom right!
68 min: Gelhardt and Klich combine crisply on the edge of the Arsenal D. The ball’s laid off to Harrison on the right. Harrison’s shot carries no conviction. Arsenal go up the other end, and ...
66 min: Pepe is sent scampering down the right by Nketiah. He’s got Smith Rowe free in the middle! He should send him clear on goal, but overcooks the pass, the ball curling off to the left wing, pushing Smith Rowe away from the danger zone. A real chance to all but seal this fourth-round tie.
65 min: Arsenal are fully on top right now. On the touchline, Marcelo Bielsa looks on pensively.
63 min: It took Chambers fully 22 seconds to score after entering the field of play, incidentally.
61 min: Maitland-Niles flicks a clever pass down the inside-left channel to give Nketiah the edge. Nketiah bursts into the box and shoots from a tight angle. Meslier claims, but that was a fine explosive move out of nowhere.
59 min: Leeds make their third change, replacing Llorente with Cooper. When play restarts, Cedric is booked for a cynical tug on an in-flight Dallas.
58 min: That hadn’t exactly been coming ... but Arsenal had been the better team since the restart. Arsenal’s fans explode in glee; the Leeds supporters soon break out in Marching on Together. Sonically, it’s like 1972 all over again.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Leeds (Chambers 56)
What an introduction to the game by Chambers! His first touch opens the scoring! The corner’s hit long. Pepe heads back across the face of goal. Chambers heads powerfully down. Meslier tries to claw off the line. The ball’s bundled out for a corner, but then the referee’s watch buzzes! The ball crossed the line, despite Meslier’s best effort! Seconds after Chambers came on!
Photograph: Chloe Knott - Danehouse/Getty Images
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55 min: White can’t continue. Chambers comes on in his place. Then from the corner ...
54 min: Martinelli wins a corner for Arsenal down the left. Before it can be taken, the physio comes on to take a look at White.
53 min: Leeds make their second change, replacing Roberts with the electric Gelhardt, who proved a proper game-changer at the weekend against Wolves. Some of the home crowd do the “Who?!” thing, which they may regret later on, should the 19-year-old winger replicate his heroics of the weekend.
52 min: Martinelli tries to pick it up by running with purpose down the middle. His eventual shot is blocked on the edge of the box.
51 min: Maitland-Niles slips a clever pass down the right channel and nearly releases Nketiah into the Leeds box. Struijk is fully switched on and toe-pokes out for a corner. Before Cedric can take it, the referee gives everyone in the six-yard box a good old lecture. Then the ball comes in, whereupon Harrison lashes clear. This second half hasn’t really got going yet.
49 min: Southampton have equalised at Stamford Bridge, Che Adams scoring not long after the restart.
48 min: Drameh and Martinelli come together again; Martinelli comes off worse again. There wasn’t much in that, to be honest, but there’s a break in play as the Arsenal man gets checked over by the physio. He’s good to continue.
46 min: Incidentally, both sides can make five changes tonight, in a maximum of three blocks.
Leeds get the second half underway. They’ve made a change, replacing Forshaw with Klich in the midfield. Arsenal send out the same XI.
Half-time scores. Elsewhere in the League Cup fourth round, Chelsea are 1-0 up against Southampton, Kai Havertz having scored just before the break, while in the battle of the mid-1980s League Cup nearly men, QPR and Sunderland are drawing 0-0.
HALF TIME: Arsenal 0-0 Leeds United
... and that’s your lot. We’re 45 minutes away from a penalty shoot-out!
44 min: Leeds have enjoyed 52 percent of possession so far. Sounds about right. They’ve been marginally the better side. “Do you, or does anyone else, know why certain footballers have started wearing their socks over their knees, Folies Bergere style?” asks Rod Wooden, no doubt having clocked Ben White with a rueful shake of the head. I have no idea. Thierry Henry affectations? Anyone?
42 min: Smith Rowe bursts down the right and wins a corner off Phillips. Kolasinac wins a header from Cedric’s delivery, but doesn’t get any real purchase on it. Leeds only half-clear, however, and they gift Smith Rowe a half-chance on the edge of the box. He slashes at his shot and sends it high and wide left.
41 min: Here’s Simon McMahon: “That 1968 League Cup final looks like Spain 2012 compared to some Scottish League Two fixtures I’ve seen this season. Like going to a fight and seeing a football game break out.”
39 min: Arsenal win a corner. Leeds nullify the danger and counter. Once again, they nearly open the hosts up down the left, but Dallas can’t quite get past Elneny and Cedric, arriving just in time.
38 min: A long pass down the inside right nearly releases Rodrigo, but Leno is off his line quickly to smother. David de Gea, beaten all ends up by Mohamed Salah the other day, is hopefully taking notes.
36 min: Nothing comes of the corner. As Arsenal launch a counter, Martinelli runs into Drameh’s outstretched arm and goes down clutching his face. On the touchline, an animated and annoyed Arteta mimes a swinging arm, but the referee doesn’t even award a free kick, which seems about right, because replays suggest the pair of young men were fairly contesting a 50-50 ball.
35 min: Leeds counter, Drameh finding James upfield on the right. The ball’s shuttled inside for Rodrigo, who dummies to let the ball through to Roberts. Roberts enters the box and should take a first-time shot, but checks before pulling the trigger. His evenutal effort is deflected out for a corner.