SUPER Eagles striker Tolu Arokodare was on the scoresheet for Wolves tonight as they were beaten 4-3 at home by 10-man Chelsea in their Carabao Cup fourth round clash.
The Nigeria international netted three minutes into the second half to make the score 3-1 after first-half goals by Andrey Santos, Pedro Neto and Estevao had given Chelsea a comfortable lead.
Arokodare finished off a Wolves counter-attack, firing home after good work from Hwang Hee-vhan.
Wolves made it a nervous finale for the visitors, with Daniel Wolfe reducing the deficit 17 minutes from time and Chelsea substitute Liam Delap getting sent off.
But the Blues restored their two-goal cushion with a spectacular Jamie Gittens strike in the 89th minute, and Wolfe’s second goal in stoppage time was too little, too late as Chelsea advanced to the quarter-finals.
Arokodare has now scored twice in his two Carabao Cup appearances, but is yet to get off the mark in the English Premier League, where he has played six games, with just two starts.
At the Emirates Stadium, Ethan Nwaneri and Bukayo Saka scored second-half goals as a youthful Arsenal side beat Brighton 2-0 to reach the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.
Mikel Arteta named 15-year-old Max Dowman, who became the youngest Arsenal player to start a match, and 17-year-old Andre Harriman-Annous in a side that had 10 changes from the team that beat Crystal Palace on Sunday.
And it was two of Arsenal’s other young players who combined to give the Gunners the lead in the 57th minute.
Mikel Merino played Myles Lewis-Skelly into the area with a clever backheel and the defender pulled the ball back for fellow academy graduate Ethan Nwaneri to sweep into the far corner.
Second-half substitute Saka doubled the lead when he picked up the rebound from a Harriman-Annous shot and fired into an empty net to give Arsenal the win.
The result means Arsenal progress into the last eight of the competition, are now unbeaten in their past 11 games and have not conceded a goal for six matches.
At Anfield, Arne Slot’s line-up gamble backfired as a much-changed Liverpool lost 3-0 at home to Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup last 16 – the Reds’ sixth defeat in seven games.
Slot named three teenagers in his starting line-up and a further five among his substitutes as he made 10 changes from the team that was beaten 3-2 at Brentford on Saturday.
But poor defending allowed Palace’s Ismaila Sarr to score twice in a four-minute spell at the end of the first half to take the game away from the hosts, before Yeremy Pino added a late third with a low curled finish.
With no-one older than 21 on the bench and first-team players Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Dominik Szoboszlai, Cody Gakpo, Florian Wirtz, Mohamed Salah and Hugo Ekitike all absent, Liverpool made a tame exit in a competition they had won twice in the past four seasons.
An error from England defender Joe Gomez allowed Sarr to score the opener, before the Senegal attacker got his second soon after – having been given far too much space when collecting Pino’s pass.
Liverpool’s miserable evening then saw 18-year-old defender Amara Nallo shown a straight red card in the 79th minute for hauling down Justin Devenny who was racing through on goal. Pino’s third sealed a convincing win for the Eagles.
There were also victories for Manchester City and Newcastle United, the former winning 3-1 at Swansea City and the latter easing past Tottenham 2-0.
RESULTS
Wolves 3-4 Chelsea
Arsenal 2-0 Brighton
Liverpool 0-3 Crystal Palace
Swansea City 1-3 Manchester City
Newcastle United 2-0 Tottenham