EFL Cup Awards (Third Round): Player, Team and Goal of the Round

Player of the Round: Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool)

There was only one name in the headlines from Liverpool’s 3-0 win at the iPro Stadium, as the Reds’ talisman orchestrated what turned out to be a walk in the park for Jurgen Klopp’s in-form side.

The little Brazilian dictated the game, bagging himself a goal and two assists in the process.

He set up the first goal from a corner that fell to Estonian defender Ragnar Klavan, who turned in his first goal since arriving in the summer.

Coutinho now has three goals and three assists in six appearances in all competitions so far this season – Photo: Marc Atkins / Offside.

Then the midfielder got on the scoresheet himself. Coutinho and his samba compatriot, Roberto Firmino, were allowed to play a neat one-two into the Derby box, before Coutinho went through unchallenged as he waltzed his way through the Rams defenders and coolly slotted the ball past a helpless Jonathan Mitchell in the home net.

Shortly after, Coutinho was once again the architect as Divock Origi made it three-nil. The Brazilian picked up the loose ball and slipped it through for the Belgian striker to rifle into the roof of the net, once again, leaving Mitchell with no chance.

Team of the Round: Norwich City

As the Cup shocks become more hard to come by as we reach the latter stages, Championship outfit Norwich still managed to claim a Premier League scalp as they won 2-0 at Goodison Park.

The recently-relegated Canaries were beaten 3-0 by Everton on the last day of last season as they went down, but pulled off the shock of the fourth round in Tuesday night’s visit.

They opened the scoring on 41 minutes when ex-Toffee Steven Naismith was played through on goal by Nelson Olivera, his new strike partner.

Scotland international, Naismith (Norwich), scored against his former club in midweek – Photo: Mark Leech / Offside.

Naismith slipped as he shot, but it actually somehow helped him, as his left-footed strike squirmed over goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.

Despite having the lion’s share of possession and the majority of the shots, Ronald Koeman’s hosts failed to hit back with a goal of their own after the restart.

Norwich on the other hand, took their chances and Josh Murphy hit a wonderful effort to double their advantage in the 74th minute to cement his side’s place in the quarter-finals.

He beat two Everton defenders, before cutting inside onto his supposedly weaker left-foot and hit a fabulous shot in off the underside of the bar.

It really was arguably the perfect performance from a lower league club looking to cause an upset. They defended resolutely and then took their chances clinically – plus they had that slight stroke of luck you always need.

Goal of the Round: César Azpilicueta (Chelsea)

With plenty of options for goal of the round last time out, this time I was left with no choice really, as Azpilicueta’s thunderous volley just had to take the acclaim.

It proved to be a pivotal turning point in the game to, with it being the equaliser which sent the tie to extra-time where Chelsea finally completed their 4-2 comeback to dump defending league champions Leicester City out of the EFL Cup – despite trailing 2-0 inside 34 minutes thanks to Shinji Okazaki’s brace.

https://youtu.be/Z46UJM5L4l4?t=58s

It really was an unexpected source though, this being the Spanish full-back’s fourth goal in 206 appearances for the Blues since arriving from Marseille back in 2012.

After Gary Cahill pulled one back right on the brink of half-time, Chelsea then came out firing straight from the off in the second period. Cesc Fabregas delivered a cross, Costa’s initial shot was blocked, but the ball fell into the path of the Spaniard, who hit the ball first time on the volley and watched it nestle gracefully into the top corner.

Incredible technique, you won’t see many better volleys. Ron Zieler in the Leicester goal stood absolutely no chance.