Arsenal defeated Sunderland on a 5-1 win margin playing for the Carabao Cup with a hat-trick from Eddie Nketiah and a debut goal from Charlie Patino. Nketiah scored in the 17th, 49th, and 58th minutes of the football match. Meanwhile, Nicolas Pepe scored in the 27th minute. The eighteen-year-old Patino scored in the second half of ‘injury time’ after landing as a substitute. Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta and Sunderland boss Lee Johnson shared their thoughts after a 5-1 match result.
Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta said: “It’s great. We’re in the semi-finals and that’s what it was about today. We started well and scored two goals, but then we started not to respect our basics too much and we suffered a little, but then we picked up our level after that in the second half and we won.”
“Eddie does what he does in training every day, he put the ball in the net. I think I’ve been very consistent with what I think about him, how much we like him and his contribution for us every time he plays is top. I want [him to stay], but he just wants more minutes. It’s difficult to go against that, but as a club and personally I really want him to stay here. That’s what we are trying to do, he’s our player and a really important part of the squad.”
Sunderland’s Lee Johnson said: “I thought we had a really good spell just after we scored, we grew in confidence and Arsenal found it quite difficult to get us off the ball in that final third. Earlier on in the game I think we threw the ball into the box too early, but we scored a really good goal and overall I’m really proud of the players. We’ve been beaten 5-1 but we have had some good spells in the match.”
“The bigger picture for us is that it’s a great learning experience for our players. We’ve said in there that now they know the standard, and even senior players can take it away. When you can feel the quality of Premier League opposition, you learn so much more than you do in something like a passing drill I’ve put on in training.”
