Football Live: Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City reach quarter-finals

Sheffield Wednesday have shocked Arsenal 3-0 while Hull City beat Leicester City in the Capital One Cup fourth-round.
Owls' Lucas Joao beats Arsenal's Mathieu DebuchyOwls' Lucas Joao beats Arsenal's Mathieu Debuchy
Owls' Lucas Joao beats Arsenal's Mathieu Debuchy

Arsenal were unceremoniously dumped out of the Capital One Cup on a damaging night as Sheffield Wednesday blew them away with a stunning 3-0 victory at Hillsborough.

The Gunners, who beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League and Everton to briefly go top of the Barclays Premier League in the last seven days, were brought back down to earth by the Sky Bet Championship outfit, who deservedly progressed to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2002 thanks to goals from Ross Wallace, Lucas Joao and Sam Hutchinson.

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It means that Arsene Wenger’s wait for a first League Cup of his lengthy reign goes on and the Gunners have not won this competition since 1993, when they were victors over the Owls at Wembley.

But what may come as a bigger cost to Wenger on a damaging night is injuries suffered to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott, who both went off in the opening stages of the match.

The fortunes of the two sides in those 22 years could not have been more different, but Wednesday were every inch the worthy winners and they claim a second successive Premier League scalp following a third-round victory at Newcastle.

Most of the action in the opening 20 minutes was in the Arsenal dug-out as they lost both Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott, which could have implications for their visit to Swansea on Saturday and for Roy Hodgson’s England ahead of the forthcoming fixtures with Spain and France.

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Those changes meant the Gunners struggled for any fluency and - after neutralising any early threat - Wednesday took a 27th-minute lead with a fine goal.

The Owls worked the ball superbly down the left and Daniel Pudil, set free by Barry Bannan, pulled back a superb cross to Wallace on the edge of the area and the former Scotland international drilled a first-time effort into the bottom corner.

Hillsborough was rocking like it used to when fixtures like this were a regular occurrence in the mid-90s and the hosts and Wallace were inches away from a second minutes later as the left-footer curled a 20-yard free-kick just wide, with goalkeeper Petr Cech only able to look on.

After making an impressive save to keep out Jeremy Helan’s effort, Cech was rooted to the spot again as Wednesday did make it two in the 40th minute.

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The resulting corner from Helan’s effort was played short to Wallace and he sent in a cross which an unmarked Lucas Joao climbed highest to and headed into the corner.

The Gunners were back out after the interval well before their hosts, clearly keen to stage a second-half comeback, but any such hopes were crushed six minutes after the restart as Hutchinson made it three.

Bannan clipped a free-kick to the far post where Tom Lees was unmarked and his ball back across goal was too easy for Hutchinson to scoop home.

Arsenal enjoyed plenty of the ball, but inexplicably they rarely tested rookie Wednesday goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith, who was a spectator for much of the final 30 minutes.

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The one time Wildsmith was called into action, he superbly turned Per Mertesacker’s header over the bar as Wednesday saw out a famous win and a ninth game in all competitions without defeat.

Hull reached the League Cup quarter-finals for the first time in their history after overcoming Barclays Premier League high-fliers Leicester on penalties.

The Tigers needed a shoot-out to see off Accrington at the first hurdle and 11 weeks on Steve Bruce’s men stepped up to the spot once again to keep their run in the competition going.

Back-up goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic was the hero, denying Riyad Mahrez - whose extra-time goal had been cancelled out by Abel Hernandez - and leaving David Meyler to strike home the decisive spot-kick against a much-changed Leicester.

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The hosts, too, made a string of changes and dominated the match for large parts, with Greg Luer, Ryan Taylor and Mo Diame coming close before tempers frayed when Harry Maguire’s header was adjudged not to have crossed the line.

Things became even more heated soon after extra-time got under way as offside appeals against Jamie Vardy were ignored, allowing fellow substitute Mahrez to slot home.

Anger quickly turned to relief, though, thanks to Hull’s own replacements, with Hernandez turning home after Chuba Akpom’s effort was saved to take the match to penalties.

City goalkeeper Jakupovic saved the first spot-kick and Claudio Ranieri’s men never got back on terms, with Meyler striking the penalty that secured a 5-4 triumph.

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There were vast changes across the line-ups for this last-16 tie, which started with Andrej Kramaric - one of Leicester’s 10 alterations - coming close from distance,

It proved one of few chances for the visitors as Hull dominated the first half, with Ritchie de Laet’s block preventing Luer from ending a lovely team move with an early goal.

Shaun Maloney sent an acrobatic attempt into the side-netting as the home side bossed the play, albeit without creating many clear-cut chances.

Diame almost made up for a wild, ballooned effort with a fizzing strike after half-time, before providing a cross to the back post, where Taylor’s header rippled the side-netting.

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Vardy was brought on in the 65th minute in a bid to sharpen Leicester’s blunt attack and Bruce responded with attacking changes of his own in the form of Akpom and Hernandez.

However, it was the hosts’ centre-back Maguire that looked to have made a late breakthrough as Schwarzer fumbled the defender’s shot, only for the assistant to rule the ball had not crossed the line.

It was a controversial moment that would have mattered little had Hernandez beaten the veteran Australian minutes later, although the visitors threatened most towards the end of second half.

Mahrez, Vardy and Danny Drinkwater had effort blocked before stoppage-time made way for extra-time, which started with Akpom being booked for diving.

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The decision infuriated Hull players and fans alike - anger that increased when an offside shout against Vardy was ignored and his shot was pushed into the path of Mahrez to slot home.

Andy Robertson was booked for his apoplectic remonstrations, but this tie was far from over as Akpom got behind the Leicester back line and Schwarzer parried his shot into the path of Hernandez to bundle home.

Marc Albrighton came close soon after, but it was Hull that looked most likely to score, with Yohan Benaloune almost diverting a Hernandez cross past Schwarzer, whose goal was being peppered by hopeful efforts.

However, there was to be no separating the sides and the match went to penalties, where Jakupovic’s save from Mahrez proved the difference.