EFL Carabao Cup 4th round report – Emphatic wins for Man Utd, City & Everton – September 30, 2020

EFL Carabao Cup 4th round report – September 30,2020

Brighton Hove & Albion 0 Manchester United 3

Juan Mata shines as United breeze into the final 8

Manchester United and Brighton met for the second time in four days and unike the Premier League affair where the Red Devils ekked out a win on the back of a last-minute penalty, the EFL Cup fourth round clash at the Amex stadium was a one-sided affair with Ole Solksjaer's men breezing past the hosts with a comfortable 0-3 win.

On a rain-soaked day, Scott McTominay gave the visitors the lead when he headed in from a perfect Juan Mata free-kick from close-range in the 44th minute.

Apart from the Mctominay goal,  a couple of chances came to either side.

Odion Ighalo had an opportunity of open the scoring from a Mata cross in the 18th minute but hit his angle was tight as he hit fired into the side netting and at the other end Dean Henderson got down low to his right to deny Alireza Jahanbakhsh's effort from the edge of the box.

Neal Maupay had the best chance of the evening for Albion 22 minutes into the second half when he was fed with a low ball by Pascal Gross, but his fierce shot was brilliantly saved by Henderson.

Paul Poga's free-kick in the 80th minute that deflected of the Brighton defense wall and went in sealed United's place in the quarter-finals for good.

Burnley 0 Manchester City 3

Raheem Sterling's brace sees City through to quarter-finals

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City coming into Wednesday night's EFL Cup tie at Turf Moor on the heels of a 5-2 bruising at the hands of Leicester City, got a lift when Raheem Sterling's brace took them through to the Last 8 of the EFL Cup.

The English international opened the scoring in the 10th minute when he stroked past Burnley keeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell off a low Benjamin Mendy cross from inside the box.

Sterling's second was a close-range finish just 4 minutes into the second half from a Ferrran Torres cross before the £20.78m signing from Valencia put the match beyond the Clarets' reach with an instinctive finish in the 65th minute.

Burnley struggled to create chances and only had two meek efforts on target to show for the entire game.

Pep Guardiola prevailed even without his key center-forwards Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus but with Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez in the ranks he still possessed a strong enough attack.

Guardiola did find room to introduce some young blood by handing a debut to 18-year-old midfielder Cole Palmer.

Everton 4 West Ham United 1

Toffees ride on Calvert-Lewin hat-trick to enter last 8

Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored his second hat-trick of the season as Carlo Ancelotti's Everton booked a quarter-final berth in the EFL Cup by thrashing West Ham 4-1 at Goodison Park on Wednesday night.

Calvert-Lewin got his first in the 11th minute from Michael Keane's superb chipped pass over the Hammers defence which the England forward finished with ease.

Even as Everton dominated the first-half, Robert Snodgrass levelled for the visitors shortly after the break when Anderson pulled one back from the line for the Scotsman to finish one from the edge of the area.

The reprieve was short-lived as Richarlison finding enough space to cut in from the left delivered a shot that deflected off Declan Rice to beat  Hammers goalkeeper Darren Randolph.

Calvert-Lewin got his second and the third for his side in the 78th minute when he scored from a rebound after Alex Iwobi's shot had bounced back off the post.

In a week in which England boss Gareth Southgate names his squad for England's international campaign coming up next week, Calvert-Lewin could not have done much more to stake a claim for his inclusion.