By Rob Kelly at Emirates Stadium
WHAT HAPPENED
We booked our place in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup with a convincing victory over AFC Wimbledon on Wednesday night.
Roared on by a vociferous home crowd, we made a sharp start to the game as Gabi Martinelli caused problems for the Dons defence from the off.
Indeed, it was the Brazilian who won the penalty for the opening goal as he reacted swiftly to latch on to an Eddie Nketiah through ball, before being bundled over in the area.
Alex Lacazette stepped up and made no mistake from the spot, sending it into the bottom right-hand corner.
We continued to threaten sporadically through a low-key first half, but save for a corner that looped up threateningly and bounced in the Wimbledon six-yard box, there was little in the way of goalmouth action.
Partey took aim just before the hour mark with a powerful drive from the edge of the area that Nik Tzanev did well to palm around the post – and the Wimbledon keeper had to be sharp to deny Nuno Tavares soon afterwards.
We were pushing and pushing for the second, and finally with 13 minutes remaining we had it as Emile Smith Rowe doubled our advantage from close range.
Two minutes later we added a third – and this was the best of the night – as Cedric raced into the area and pulled the ball back, for Nketiah to flick into the far corner with a backheel.
There was still time for Bukayo Saka to go close twice before the final whistle, but in the end we had to settle for the three goals and a place in the next round.
TEAM NEWS
As expected, Mikel Arteta made a raft of changes for this match, with Partey in the starting XI as he sought to build fitness ahead of the Tottenham match this weekend.
Elsewhere, Bernd Leno started in goal, Rob Holding was fit enough after his recent knee knock to be included at the heart of the defence and Lacazette led the line.
WHAT’S NEXT
It’s the small matter of the north London derby on Sunday afternoon, as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side visit the Emirates.
Then we head into the international break, before returning with matches against Brighton, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa in the Premier League.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
