Chelsea, Arsenal crash out of League Cup
LONDON — Chelsea’s woes continued when the holder was dumped out of the Capital One (League) Cup fourth round following a shootout defeat by Stoke City Tuesday, while Arsenal suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat at second tier Sheffield Wednesday.
Boss Jose Mourinho will be under mounting pressure after Eden Hazard failed to convert the crucial penalty following another testing encounter for Chelsea, who only forced extra time thanks to a last-minute leveler from Loic Remy.
Penalties were also needed in the other two ties as second tier Hull City ousted Premier League Leicester City and Everton squeezed through against Norwich City.
There was to be no solace for a reasonably strong Chelsea side, whose miserable season dragged on as it could not find a winner against Stoke despite playing against 10 men for all of extra time.
It looked like it was going to be its night when Remy canceled out Jon Walters’ stunning strike from early in the second half and Stoke’s Phil Bardsley was sent off for a second booking at the close of normal time.
Yet its killer instinct from last term deserted the Premier League champion again and after some superb penalties, Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland pulled off a stunning save to palm away Hazard’s effort for a 5-4 shootout win.
“Losing 1-0 feeling the situation against an experienced opponent ... the team did everything. I tried to help too,” Mourinho told reporters after suffering his eighth defeat in 16 games this season.
The shock of the night came at Hillsborough, a ground where Arsene Wenger has never tasted victory, as Arsenal lost to lower-league opposition by a three-goal margin for the first time since February 1959.
The Arsenal manager has also never won the sometimes maligned League Cup in his 19 years at the club and looked forlorn on the bench as Ross Wallace and Lucas Joao put the host two goals up before halftime.
When Sam Hutchinson netted just after the restart, there was no way back for the visitors, who failed to create a meaningful chance all game.
A miserable occasion for a strong-looking Arsenal was compounded by first-half injuries to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who went off after five minutes, and his replacement Theo Walcott, who exited 13 minutes later.
Hull, relegated from the Premier League last season, relived the high life by beating Leicester on penalties.
The match had finished 0-0, but Riyad Mahrez put Leicester ahead in extra time, only for Hull’s Abel Hernandez to level and force penalties, which Hull won 5-4. Everton drew 1-1 with Norwich before sneaking through 4-3 in the shootout.
Sebastian Bassong had put Norwich ahead at Goodison Park early in the second half, before Leon Osman leveled.
After nobody found a winner in extra time, Norwich’s Wes Hoolahan and Nathan Redmond missed in the shootout.— Reuters
