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On Wednesday night, Chelsea and Bristol City earned their place in the last four of the EFL Cup. The pair joined Arsenal and Manchester City in semi-finals. Here is a recap of how the Gunners and City made the last four.
Meanwhile here is how Bristol City and Chelsea booked their places in the last four of the competition on Wednesday night:
Bristol City 2-1 Manchester United
Championship surprise package Bristol City recorded a memorable victory over Premier League giants Manchester United at Ashton Gate.
After a goalless first half, the Robins took the lead on 51 minutes. Joe Bryan produced a clever piece of skill to knock the ball over Daley Blind, before producing a sensational strike from a tight angle into the top corner.
However, United were level on 58 minutes. Paul Pogba was upended on the edge of the area and Swedish veteran Zlatan Ibrahimovic smashed home the resulting free-kick.
United had their chances to win the game but found their former goalkeeper Luke Steele in no mood to concede a second goal. In stoppage-time, the roof nearly came off Ashton Gate.
Matt Taylor’s cross dropped to Korey Smith in the Red Devils area and the midfielder kept his cool to produce a low effort that beat Sergio Romero in the United goal.
The goal saw Bristol City boss Lee Johnson do a Jose Mourinho-style run down the touchline and celebrate with one of the ball boys.
The Robins were massive underdogs for the clash. Johnson’s side will be even bigger underdogs in the last four, as they face a daunting two-legged tie with Premier League leaders Manchester City.
Chelsea booked their place in the semi-finals, despite starting their home tie with Bournemouth with a heavily rotated starting line-up.
The Blues took the lead on 13 minutes. Good play from Michy Batshuayi and Kenedy led the ball to make its way to Cesc Fabregas, who squared the ball to Willian and the Brazilian tapped into an empty net.
Things got worse for the south coast side after the goal after star striker Jermain Defoe sustained what looked like a bad injury and needed to be replaced by Jordon Ibe.
The one goal looked set to win the Blues the game. However, the visitors had other ideas and equalised on 90 minutes. Substitute Ibe played the ball across the area to Dan Gosling in space and the midfielder produced a good first-time finish past Willy Caballero in the Chelsea goal.
Just as the game seemed to be heading for extra-time, Chelsea’s two biggest attacking threats combined to score the winner in the first minute of stoppage-time.
Eden Hazard produced a lovely bit of skill to find Alvaro Morata and the Spaniard poked the ball past Artur Boruc in the Cherries goal.
The goal set up a semi-final date with London rivals Arsenal, who dispatched the Blues in last season’s FA Cup final. The semi-finals will take place in January, as all four teams look to get their hands on the first piece of silverware of the domestic campaign.
Who will win the EFL Cup this season?
