It was a night of shock upsets in the Carabao Cup tonight as ailing Nottingham Forest dispatched Tottenham 2-0 and Brighton beat Arsenal 3-1!
Everyone loves an underdog and tonight the Carabao Cup gave us two.
Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham
Bottom of the Premier League Nottingham Forest welcomed fourth-place Tottenham Hotspur to the City Ground in the third round of the EFL / Carabao Cup.
Forest continued their impressive home form against Antonio Conte’s men, providing a positive first half despite the match hitting 45 minutes deadlocked at 0-0.
It took just 5 minutes of the second half for Jesse Lingard to supply Renan Lodi the chance to take Forest 1-0 up.
Just 7 minutes later, Lingard himself nodded away a neat header from a looping ball across the box from Sam Surridge to make it 2-0.
Nottingham Forest were clearly out for a big win this evening and their tenacity in their tackling showed it. So much so that Orel Mangala managed to earn himself 2 yellow cards in the space of 7 minutes.
He was given his marching orders at the 75-minute mark.
This sending-off seemingly didn’t deter Nottingham Forest, but rather inspire them to push harder. They spent the remaining 15 minutes of the game fiercely defending an ever more desperate Tottenham offensive to secure their victory in this 3rd round!
Arsenal vs Brighton & Hove Albion
Arsenal’s matchup with Brighton would also supply an upset of sorts – with 6th-place Brighton beating 1st-place Gunners in a 4-goal affair at the Emirates!
Arsenal came out in good form and managed to open the scoring 20 minutes in via Edward Nketiah, courtesy of a Reiss Nelson assist. Within the space of 7 minutes, Arsenal earn 2 yellow cards and concede a goal.
Mohamed Elneny and Karl Hein earn their yellow cards 25 and 26 minutes in respectively.
Brighton are then awarded a penalty by a further foul just 1 minute later. Danny Welbeck steps up and does the job for Brighton.
Brighton themselves pick up a yellow card just before the break, as Jeremy Sarmiento is booked 43 minutes in. The half ends 1-1.
Just 13 minutes into the second half and Sarmiento redeems his yellow card by setting up Kaoru Mitoma to put Brighton ahead 2-1.
Just another 13 minutes on, and Tariq Lamptey adds to Brighton’s tally, stretching the lead to 3-1 and causing concern for the Gunners.
As did Nottingham Forest across the country, Brighton held on firmly to their advantage and saw out the remainder of the match to earn themselves a 3-1 victory in this 3rd round matchup!
Three’s a charm?
Championship side Derby County almost gave us a third shock victory, after taking Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool to penalties with a 0-0 draw.
The Rams came close but no cigar in the shootout, as goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher pulled off 3 brilliant saves to turn around a frustrating evening for Liverpool.
WATCH THE SHOOTOUT BELOW!
