64 2GM Wednesday December 22 2021 | the times
SportCarabao Cup: Quarter-final
Arsenal (4-2-3-1) B Leno 5 — C Soares 5,
R Holding 5, B White 6 (Gabriel 73min), N Tavares
7 — M Elneny 5, M Odegaard 6 (G Martinelli 73) —
N Pépé 7, E Smith Rowe 6 (C Patino 80),
F Balogun 5 (G Xhaka 56, 6) — E Nketiah 8.
Booked Balogun.
Sunderland (3-4-1-2): L Burge 7 — B Wright 7,
T Flanagan 7, C Doyle 7 — E Embleton 7
(A O’Brien 78), C Winchester 7, D Neil 7, L Gooch 7
(C Evans 78) — A Pritchard 7 — R Stewart 7
(B Mbunga-Kimpioka 90+3), N Broadhead 7
(D Hume, 45+2, 6). Booked Gooch, Hume, Wright.
Referee R JonesMikel Arteta embraced Charlie Patino
at full time but warned fans not to
expect too much too soon from the
teenager. “Now we have to cook him
slowly,” the Arsenal manager said.
The midfielder, 18, became the
youngest Arsenal player to score on
debut since Jon Sammels in 1963 when
he slotted home the last goal in the 5-1
win over Sunderland. Arsenal paid
£10,000 in compensation to sign him
when aged 11 from Luton Town and he
has since captained England’s under-16
side at the age of 14. More recently heFootball
Carabao Cup quarter-final
Arsenal (2) 5 Sunderland (1) 1
Nketiah
17, 49, 58
Pépé 27
Patino 90+1
Broadhead 31Papa John’s EFL Trophy
Second round: North
Tranmere(1) 1 Harrogate (0) 2
Maynard 11 Muldoon 53
Pattison 71
FA Trophy: Third round
Bradford PA (2) 3 Halifax (1) 3
Dockerty 4
Marriott
45+2, 90
Vale 14
Summerfield 60
Bradbury 90+4
(Halifax win 5-3 on pens)
Vanarama National North
AFC Telford (0) 0 Guiseley(0) 1
884 Stones 85
Cinch Scottish League Two
Stirling (0) 0 Elgin City(0) 1
383 Mailer 68
P W D L F A GDPts
Kelty.............16 13 3 0 37 10 27 42
Forfar 17 10 5 2 32 14 18 35
Annan...........17 9 2 6 27 21 6 29
Stranraer.....17 6 4 720 25 -5 22
Edinburgh...17 6 4 720 26 -6 22
Stirling..........18 6 3 9 23 24 -1 21
Stenhsemr...175572327-420
Albion...........17 5 3 920 29 -9 18
Elgin City.....17 4 5 8 16 25 -9 17
Cowdenbth.17 2 4 11 10 27 -17 10
Darts
William Hill PDC World
Championship
Alexandra Palace, London
(England unless stated): First
round R van Barneveld (Neth) bt L
Ilagan (Phil) 3-0; J Wade (Eng) bt M
Kuivenhoven (Neth) 3-1; L Williams
(Wales) bt T Shibata (Japan) 3-0; J
Lowe bt D Larsson (Swe) 3-0.
Second round M King bt R Joyce 3-
2; D Chisnall bt M De Decker (Bel) 3-
0; V van der Voort (Neth) bt A Hunt
3-0; M Smith bt R Meulenkamp
(Neth) 3-0; F Hempel (Ger) bt D Van
den Bergh (Bel) 3-1.
Snooker
BetVictor Championship League
Morningside Arena, Leicester:
Group A (England unless stated): G
Dott (Scot) bt R Day (Wales) 3-2; TFord bt G Wilson 3-1; Liang Wenbo
(China) Ford 3-1; Day bt Zhou
Yuelong (China) 3-1; Dott bt Liang
3-2; Wilson bt Zhou 3-2; J Lisowski
bt Day 3-1; Zhou bt Liang 3-2;
Ford bt Lisowski 3-1. Semi-finals
Lisowski bt Dott 3-1; Liang bt Day
3-2. Final Liang bt Lisowski 3-1.Results
Football
Kick-off 7.45
Carabao Cup: Quarter-finals
Brentford v Chelsea; Liverpool v
Leicester City; Tottenham Hotspur
v West Ham United.
Cinch Scottish Premiership
Hibernian v Aberdeen; St
Johnstone v Ross County; St Mirren
v Celtic.
Cinch Scottish League One
Montrose v Peterhead. League
Two Cowdenbeath v Edinburgh
City.
Darts
Alexandra Palace, London William
Hill PDC World Championship.Fixtures
Newcastle join Brighton in race for Rodon
Newcastle United have joined Brighton
& Hove Albion in showing interest in
Joe Rodon.
The Tottenham Hotspur centre back
has played only once since Antonio
Conte took charge last month. Rodon,
24, wants regular starting appearances
and is keen to move on loan for the rest
of the season, although Tottenham
may prefer a sale. They paid Swansea
City £11 million rising to a potential
£15 million for him in October 2020.
He made 11 league appearances
under José Mourinho last season but
has been out of favour with the Port-
guese’s successors Nuno Espírito Santo
and Conte. The Italian has said that he
views Rodon as cover for Eric Dier at
the centre of the trio of defenders ratherthan playing in either place alongside
the England international.
Newcastle are searching for centre
backs in an effort to avoid relegation,
while Rodon played under Brighton’s
head coach Graham Potter at Swansea.
Tottenham are willing to let Steven
Bergwijn leave but want to sell him to
Ajax, while the Dutch club have asked
to take the Holland winger on loan.
Bergwijn joined Tottenham for £27 mil-
lion in January 2020 from PSV Eind-
hoven, where he had scored 31 goals in
149 appearances and won three titles.
Tottenham are considering a legal
challenge against the Uefa decision
which eliminated them from the Euro-
pa Conference League. Conte criticised
Uefa for deciding that Tottenham
should forfeit their final group G match
last week and awarding a 3-0 win forRennes despite eight of his players and
nine members of staff having tested
positive for Covid-19.
He also said that Tottenham were
owed respect by Uefa for travelling
abroad with strong squads in the new
third-tier competition. Tottenham’s
only option is to appeal to the Court of
Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
“To tell us, ‘Thanks very much, you
went here, here and here, but now you
lose 3-0,’ it lacks respect. It’s not fair,”
Conte said. “We are confident some-
thing can change because the players,
fans and the club want to play the quali-
fication on the pitch, not in the court.
“I’m very disappointed with Uefa
because it means maybe someone
doesn’t know the problem we were
having and maybe some personal inter-
ests [were behind the decision].”Gary JacobThere is so much to admire in Eddie
Nketiah’s stealth runs towards the ball
as well as the finesse of his finishing. At
22, Nketiah really is a huge prospect, a
natural born scorer, and three more
examples of his poacher’s work guided
Arsenal into the semi-finals of the
Carabao Cup.
The moment Nketiah claimed the
match ball and was acclaimed by
Arsenal fans here at the Emirates
Stadium last night came shortly before
the hour mark. It was his movement
leading to his deft back-heeled finish
that especially impressed. Nketiah
appears to possess an instinct for when
to go through the gears and attack the
six-yard area, and from which angle.
Due acknowledgment must be made
for the level of the opposition, Sky Bet
League One Sunderland. Lee Johnson’s
side fought hard, although they were
tiring and trailing 3-1 when Nketi-
ah came calling again. Sun-
derland were also opened
up by the confidence and
swiftness of the Arsenal
attack, launched by
Bernd Leno, taken on by
Martin Odegaard, then
Emile Smith Rowe and
Nuno Tavares before
Granit Xhaka brought
Odegaard back into the
move. Nketiah was lurking
close to Odegaard, about 40 yards
from goal, offering an option to
feet. Odegaard instead played a
precise pass down the inside-right
channel behind Sunderland’s
defence to invite Nicolas Pépé
to run at Denver Hume.
As Pépé received the ball,
Nketiah was still 35 yards from
goal. He accelerated as Tom
Flanagan and Callum Doyle
back-pedalled. He then
slowed but Flanagan and
Doyle continued to retreat,
opening some space for Nket-
iah to attack. Pépé was busy
nutmegging Flanagan and
then stroking the ball
across. Nketiah was
0
21
Arsenal
Nketiah 17, 49, 58, Pépé 27, Patino 90+1Sunderland
Broadhead 315
1
Nketiah more than fills boots of
Henry Winter
Chief Football
Writer
Sunderland could have folded. But
they took their signal from their defiant
fans. Sunderland, being Sunderland,
had travelled in huge numbers. They
took up their 5,200 allocation, wanted
more but were thwarted by the configu-
ration of the Clock End.
This is a fixture that the League One
side crave again, not merely as a day out
in the cup, but in the elite division. The
embers of old ambition are being
fanned into new life by their wealthy
owner, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, but they
know it will take time.
Their support remains Premier
League calibre. They arrived in coach-
es. They came by train and then Tube,
disgorging on to the Holloway Road
and passing revellers pouring into
town, some in fancy dress, heading off
for a night out/business meeting. An
army in red and white marched past.
Their spirit suffused Johnson’s
players, who pulled one back after 31
minutes. Pritchard and Neil combined
quickly in midfield, Elliot Embleton
threaded the perfect through-ball, and
the swift Broadhead lifted the ball with
the outside of his right boot over Leno.
Sunderland briefly had their tails up.
Carl Winchester rifled a shot goal-
wards, but Leno pushed it to safety.
Sunderland’s ambitions were then
limited when they lost Nathan Broad-
head to injury.
Arsenal dominated the second half.
Nketiah scored his second five minutes
after the break. Tavares got in down the
left, looked up, saw Nketiah running
towards the near post and found him
with a quick delivery. Nketiah ran
across Doyle and flicked the ball home
with the outside of his right foot.
Sunderland had brief hope when
Embleton’s shot hit a post and went
wide. Nketiah soon had his hat-trick
after that sweeping passing move and
elegant finish. “Eddie, Eddie,” came the
chant.
The fans were soon singing in praise
of Patino. He rose from the bench for
his debut and showed why he is so high-
ly regarded at the club with his finish,
timing his run to slide towards Pépé’s
cut-back and guide the ball past Burge.
But Nketiah had already claimed the
match ball and the headlines.now in poacher mode, darting into
space in front of Flanagan and meeting
Pépé’s delivery with a magnificent back-
heel finish from eight yards. “Eddie,
Eddie” rang around the Emirates.
There is still a debate about his future,
and whether he will commit long term to
the club where he has been since being
released by Chelsea in 2015. On this evi-
dence, albeit against less demanding foe,
Nketiah clearly has a substantial role to
play at Arsenal, short term and long
term, though whether he does enough
off the ball as required of a modern
centre forward is something for Arteta
to ponder. And for Nketiah to work on.
With so many games coming up over
the Christmas period, and the threat of
Covid temporarily removing players
from contention, as with Pablo Marí, Al-
bert Sambi Lokonga and Calum Cham-
bers here, this confirmation of some
promising understudies was well timed
for Arteta. There was even time for the
18-year-old prospect Charlie Patino to
make his debut, score and be lauded by
fans who love a goalscoring Charlie.
But this was the Nketiah show.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang again
remained out in the cold, and may now
be frozen out. Arsenal do not need him.
Gabriel Martinelli took the headlines
with his impact against Leeds United,
cutting in from the left. Alexandre
Lacazette has performed well
in the past month in the
league, leading the line.
Now it was Nketiah’s
turn to impress as the
front man in Arteta’s
4-1-4-1 system against
Johnson’s hardworking
visitors.
After Alex Pritchard
briefly worried Leno with a
low shot, Nketiah took over
after 17 minutes. As Cédric Soares
swung in a corner, Rob Holding
eluded his marker, Bailey Wright,
by darting right, left, then right
to free space.
His down-
ward header
was saved by
Lee Burge but there was Nketiah,
reacting quickest, turning the ball
over the line with his knee.
Pépé was enjoying himself run-
ning at Lynden Gooch, and Arsenal
added a second after 27 minutes.
Odegaard passed to Pépé, who cut
in with Gooch, Doyle and Dan Neil
close by. Pépé calmly wrong-footed
them by passing to the overlapping
Cédric, who drew Sunderland’s at-
tention before returning the ball to
the unmarked Pépé. The winger’s
driven shot clipped Doyle on
its way past Burge.10
Number of games in their
49-match unbeaten league
run of 2003-04 Arsenal
had played before Charlie
Patino had been born
(Oct 17, 2003)Patino, 18, scored
Arsenal’s fifth
goal on debut
Nketiah seals
his hat-trick,
with a flicked
finish at the
near postArteta cools hype around
has been training with the Arsenal first-
team squad most weeks and was named
on the bench for the first time in the
Carabao Cup quarter-final.
Arteta said he wanted to guard
against the hype after fans sang Patino’s
name before he came on with ten min-
utes left. “It was a good start. A beautiful
moment,” Arteta said. “He is a kid that
is coming through our system, a lovely
kid. It was a dream. A really special
moment. The fans heard about him and
they know what he can become. No,
that is what we have to avoid [hype]. He
still has a lot of competition in front of
him. He is really young. And he needs toGary Jacob