Three talking points from Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup action

Wednesday evening played host to the final third round matches of this season’s Carabao Cup, with the draw for the fourth round being completed shortly after the final whistles. 

The draw pitted Chelsea against Southampton, while holders Manchester City will travel to face West Ham United and Arsenal face Leeds United.

It was a night of high drama and plenty of action, so here we list three talking points from the night’s cup action.

Kepa the hero for Blues 

A year ago, Chelsea ‘keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga looked to be an outcast in West London. The former Athletic Bilbao man was in the midst of an awful run of form, and had been replaced by Edouard Mendy as the club’s first choice.

Fast forward a year, and the Spanish international is slowly but surely reviving his career. After his heroics in the UEFA Super Cup against Villarreal, Kepa was once again the match winner as he saved Marvelous Nakamba’s spot kick.

Kepa and Reece James combined to give Chelsea shoot-out victory

The save marked just how far the 26-year-old has come under Thomas Tuchel. With the German giving him the opportunity to impress on occasion, the Spaniard has now kept eight clean sheets in 13 games.

As well as the key penalty save, Kepa also did well during the 90 minutes, making a number of key saves to keep Villa at bay.

United’s second string fall short

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made 11 changes to his side for the game against West Ham United, with none of the starters for the game against the Hammers four days previously keeping their place.

The move didn’t pay off, however, as the Red Devils fell to a 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford.

Despite the wholesale changes, United’s line up included Jadon Sancho, Donny van de Beek and Anthony Martial, a measure of the depth available to Solskjaer.

A number of United’s fringe players struggled to impress against West Ham

Ultimately, United were sub-par, however, and soon the reinforcements were called in.

Mason Greenwood and Bruno Fernandes were both called upon from the bench, but neither could do anything to prevent United from exiting the competition after just a single game.

Spurs progress despite nervy performance

Nuno Esperito Santo has already returned to Molineux twice since departing Wolves in the summer, with his Tottenham side having already played them in the league before their cup tie on Wednesday.

The visitors left with all three points in the league fixture last month, but this time around it was a far less convincing display.

Despite going 2-0 up halfway through the first-half, Santo’s side were level on the hour mark and had to rely on a penalty shoot-out to secure their place in the next round.

Kane scored his first domestic goal of the season against Wolves

After three wins and clean sheets in the first three games of the season, Spurs have now lost two and drawn one in their last three, conceding ten goals in the process.

Despite impressive performance from the likes of Giovani Lo Celso and Bryan Gil, Santo will undoubtedly be worried about the way that his side collapsed after Harry Kane had doubled their lead.