League Cup: Havertz hat-trick as Chelsea cruise, Arsenal edge Leicester

 

Kai Havertz opened his Chelsea account with a hat-trick in a 6-0 thrashing of Barnsley in the League Cup Wednesday.

The German playmaker had struggled to make an impact in his first two Premier League games since sealing a reported £71-million move from Bayer Leverkusen.

But he was one of just three players to retain his place from Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpool and Frank Lampard’s decision reaped its reward as he scored his first senior hat-trick.

Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell also made their Chelsea debuts, while Tammy Abraham and Ross Barkley made the most of rare starts to get their names on the scoresheet.

Abraham pounced on loose pass deep in the Barnsley half to slam home the opener before Havertz’s calm finish opened his Chelsea account.

A brilliant unselfish flick from Abraham teed Havertz up perfectly to convert his second after Barkley drove home on his weaker left foot.

Havertz was due to be replaced by Chilwell 25 minutes from time but just completed his hat-trick in time by rounding Brad Collins before tapping into an empty net before Olivier Giroud completed the scoring.

Chelsea will face either Tottenham or Leyton Orient in the last 16 with the outcome of that tie yet to be decided after the match was postponed on Tuesday due to a number of coronavirus cases among the Orient players.

Arsenal won the only all-Premier League tie of the night, beating Leicester City 2-0 at the King Power Stadium.

Christian Fuchs’s own goal broke the deadlock and Eddie Nketiah added a late second for the Gunners, who could face Liverpool at Anfield twice in three days next week should the Premier League champions progress past Lincoln on Thursday.

Alex Iwobi was on target as Everton continued their fine start to the season with a 5-2 win at League One Fleetwood, while Newcastle thrashed League Two Morecombe 7-0 with Joelinton scoring twice.

Fulham, Brighton and Burnley progressed 2-0 over Championship opposition in Sheffield Wednesday, Preston and Millwall respectively.

Stoke were the only non-Premier League side to go through on the night as they also beat lower league opposition in Gillingham 1-0.