EFL Cup scores, draw, takeaways: Man United shine, Man City bounced by Tottenham, and Liverpool just get by

The EFL Cup field for the quarterfinals is set after there were quite a few upset victories on Wednesday. Newcastle United were able to get past Chelsea, Aston Villa fell to Crystal Palance and Tottenham defeated Manchester City. Jhon Duran’s scoring run for Villa wasn’t enough to keep Villa going but it was an exciting round of 16. While teams like Manchester City are now out, Liverpool still have a chance to go back-to-back after winning the 2024 edition.

EFL Cup round of 16 scores

Southampton 3, Stoke City 2
Brentford 1, Sheffield Wednesday 1 (Brentford advances 5-4 on penalties)
Brighton 2, Liverpool 3
Preston North End 0, Arsenal 3
Manchester United 5, Leicester City 2
Newcastle United 2, Chelsea 0
Aston Villa 1, Crystal Palace 2
Tottenham 2, Manchester City 1

Quarterfinal draw results

Matches to be played around December 16th

Tottenham vs. Manchester United
Arsenal vs. Crystal Palace
Newcastle United vs. Brentford
Southampton vs. Liverpool 

Tottenham secure the upset

The biggest result came from Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, as Tottenham’s win over Manchester City included quite a few highs and lows in the first half with goals from Timo Werner, Pape Sarr, and Matheus Nunes. But injuries also reared their heads. Mikey Van De Ven left the match with an injury for Tottenham and Savinho also was stretchered off for Manchester City after taking a corner kick. With the Brazillian rounding into form, it’s quite a blow for the City attack but this result is a landmark one for Ange Postecoglou. He has spoken about how he delivers trophies in his second season with clubs and with only a few more victories, he can do that for Tottenham.

Kicking off the post-Erik ten Hag era right

Coming into facing Leicester City, things couldn’t have been much lower for Manchester United. Being led by interim manager Ruud Van Nistelrooy, they exploded in the first half for four goals facing a rotated side, winning 5-2. Leicester have to focus on staying out of the drop zone of the Premier League so it was a chance for the Red Devils to use as a get-right game and they did just that. Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes both scored braces in the match while Alejandro Garnacho rounded out the scoring. Ahead of facing Chelsea during the weekend, this was just what United needed.

No matter who the manager may be for the Red Devils, if the players are confident,  they can score on anyone. They won’t have liked to have allowed Leicester to score twice but it’s something that’s easier to stomach after scoring five in the match. This is the kind of clash that could cause selection issues for the weekend.

Jhon Duran scores but it wasn’t enough 

After a gift from Crystal Palace keeper and U.S. men’s national team start Matt Turner allowed Jhon Duran to score his eighth goal in all competitions and his second in his last three appearances for Aston Villa, the Eagles were able to wake up away from home. Eberechi Eze opened the scoring in under 10 minutes but was withdrawn shortly after with a thigh injury. Daichi Kamada came on to replace him and also provided the eventual winning goal of the match for Palace.

It has been a slow start to the season for Crystal Palace under Oliver Glasner but following this victory, they have strung together back-to-back wins after also defeating Tottenham in their last match. If they can make it three in a row against Wolves, it will go a long way to ensuring Premier League safety.

Cody Gakpo calls for more playing time 

When you’re in a team performing as well as Arne Slot’s Reds, making changes to the XI can be tough, but following a brace in cup play, Cody Gakpo is doing all that he can to push for more minutes on the wing. With Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah in good form, rotation can be hard to come by but as Liverpool continue to advance in more competitions, depth will be needed. Gakpo now has four goals and two assists in all competitions in just over 500 minutes played with back-to-back braces in EFL Cup play.