Arsenal 5-1 Sunderland: Eddie Nketiah scores hat-trick as Gunners cruise into Carabao Cup last four

PA
Matt Verri21 December 2021

Eddie Nketiah was at his poaching best as his hat-trick sent Arsenal through to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup with a 5-1 win over Sunderland.

The 22-year-old’s future at the club is uncertain, but his knack for being in the right place at the right time was on full display as he scored once before the break and twice after it in the comfortable win.

Nicolas Pepe also scored on his return to the starting lineup, and while Nathan Broadhead got Sunderland back in it in the first-half, Nketiah’s goals ensured it was a routine night for the Gunners.

Charlie Patino came off the bench for his debut late on, and he capped the night in style for Arsenal with a finish from inside the box after more good work from Pepe.

Mikel Arteta made nine changes to his side, and two of those got on the scoresheet in the first-half for the Gunners.

Rob Holding, Arsenal’s captain for the match, saw his header well saved from a corner, but Nketiah was on hand to bundle it home from close range for the opening goal.

The Gunners went two up just before the half hour mark. Pepe and Cedric Soares combined nicely on the right wing, with the full-back cutting it back to the Ivorian for a shot that was deflected into the roof of the net.

But Sunderland responded well and pulled one back just four minutes later. Broadhead produced a lovely dinked finish over Bernd Leno and Holding could not get back in time to hook it away.

Arsenal restored their two-goal advantage four minutes into the second-half though, as Nketiah got across his man at the front post to score from Nuno Tavares’ whipped ball in.

His best goal of the night was still to come though. Martin Odegaard played a wonderful ball out to Pepe, who nutmegged Denver Hume and found Nketiah in the box. The striker flicked it home in superb style for his hat-trick.

The comfortable scoreline allowed Arteta to bring on Charlie Patino for his first-team debut, and the 18-year-old marked it with a goal in the dying moments on a perfect night for the Gunners. They are the first team into Wednesday night’s semi-final draw.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in