The third round of the EFL Cup was wrapped up on Wednesday evening, with four Premier League clubs in action. Here, football writer Dan Edwards reflects on what happened.
Huddersfield Town 0-2 Manchester City
A Manchester City team which featured six academy graduates in the starting XI sailed gently past Huddersfield with a goal in each half.
And it was perhaps their most notable graduate, Phil Foden, that gave Man City the lead on the night.
After receiving the ball with his back to goal more than 30 yards out, Foden span and played a quick one-two with debutant Divine Mukasa before firing the ball low and hard to the goalkeeper’s left from outside the box.
It took Man City close to an hour to break down a stubborn Huddersfield defence once more, with Savinho scoring what was just his fourth goal in all competitions for Pep Guardiola’s men.
Such was the ferocity of his shot to beat the goalkeeper at his near post, the Brazilian will surely be inspired to try his luck more often.
Guardiola extended his academy usage by bringing on siblings Reigan and Jaden Heskey late in the second half. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because their father is none other than former England forward Emile Heskey.
There was also an outing for Kalvin Phillips, who took to the pitch for Man City for the first time in 645 days.
See: Man City line-up and report
Newcastle United 4-1 Bradford City
A brace apiece for Joelinton and William Osula enabled defending EFL Cup holders Newcastle to progress comfortably past League One side Bradford.
Newcastle scored twice in the space of three minutes in the first half to quickly dull any hopes of a cup upset for the travelling Bradford supporters, before putting two more past them in the second half to cap off a comfortable evening for Eddie Howe's side.
Joelinton had not scored in 2025 but two well-taken finishes from inside the box hinted that he may well have stored some poaching instinct from previous years as a centre-forward.
Osula’s first goal came on the back of some quick interplay between Joelinton, Lewis Miley and Bruno Guimaraes in midfield, with the latter playing Osula through on goal. The young Dane’s long strides ate up the remaining yardage in no time before a first-time finish across the goalkeeper.
He capped off a strong evening with a back-post tap-in after substitute Harvey Barnes did well to thread the ball across the six-yard box. While much of the conversation on Newcastle’s forwards has been centred on how Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa will combine, Osula has staked his claim for a starting place himself.
There was a lovely story for Bradford in amongst the Newcastle goals, with Andy Cook scoring what may possibly be the goal of the night against his boyhood club, having only recently returned from a long injury layoff.
See: Newcastle line-up and report
Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Doncaster Rovers
Joao Palhinha was the unlikely scorer of a somewhat unorthodox overhead kick before a Jay McGrath own goal doubled the lead for Spurs three minutes later to put the hosts in the driving seat.
Palhinha’s goal was the result of a Xavi Simons corner kick from the left, with the Dutchman floating the ball right on top of a Doncaster defence who failed twice to successfully clear it from danger, with Palhinha finishing acrobatically with his back to goal.
Doncaster had started brightly with four shots from inside the box in the first 10 minutes, so they had every right to feel unlucky when Jay McGrath diverted a Wilson Odobert cross into his own net to put Spurs in a dominant position.
Although Spurs racked up the shots, there wasn’t much in the way of clear chances for Thomas Frank’s side, and Doncaster more than held their own for large spells, but Brennan Johnson put the game to bed in the 94th minute.
Port Vale 0-2 Arsenal
It took Arsenal just eight minutes to open the scoring through Eberechi Eze at Vale Park, with the Gunners’ new No 10 netting for the first time for his new club.
With Gabriel Martinelli picking up possession on the left side of the box, the Brazilian quickly tapped a pass to Myles Lewis-Skelly, who with the deftest of flicks allowed the ball to continue on its trajectory through to Eze, before the Englishman opened up his body to calmly slot home.
Port Vale did well to avoid being broken down by Arsenal’s stars, and although the Gunners put up a mammoth 80.6 per cent possession and 731 successful passes, it wasn’t until the 86th minute that Mikel Arteta’s side had some breathing room.
It was another involvement from a substitute, this time Leandro Trossard, that enabled Arsenal to double their advantage. The Belgian picked the ball out of the sky from a searching William Saliba pass before striking confidently from outside the box.
Four of Arsenal’s last five goals have now been scored by substitutes as Arteta continues to maximise his strength in depth.
See: Arsenal line-up and report
Fourth-round draw
The draw for the fourth round has produced four all-Premier League ties. Here it is in full:
Arsenal v Brighton
Grimsby Town v Brentford
Swansea City v Manchester City
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur
Wrexham v Cardiff City
Liverpool v Crystal Palace
Wolves v Chelsea
Wycombe Wanderers v Fulham
These ties will be played in the week commencing Monday 27 October. If a tie ends in a draw after 90 minutes, it will be decided by a penalty shoot-out.