Carabao Cup: Manchester City past Brentford, late Newcastle goal beats Fulham in quarter-finals

Manchester City easily reached the semi-finals of the League Cup on Wednesday with a 2-0 home win over Brentford and will meet holders Newcastle United, who needed an extra goal from Lewis Miley to beat Fulham 2-1 at St James’ Park.

Chelsea, who won 3-1 at Cardiff City on Tuesday, will face Arsenal or Crystal Palace in the other two-legged semi-final, who will contest the final quarter-final next Tuesday.

Pep Guardiola made seven substitutions for City, who won 3-0 at Crystal Palace on Sunday, but the hosts had little trouble beating Brentford, who had little to offer for the future.

After a slow start under persistent rain, City began to create chances, with Rayan Cherki dragging a shot wide and parrying another effort while Oscar Bobb squandered a decent chance after forcing his way into the area.

His tame effort went straight at the keeper and Bobb went off injured in the 19th minute and was replaced by Phil Foden, who himself made way towards the end for 19-year-old Charlie Gray to make his senior debut for City.

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Brentford’s Mathias Jensen forced City keeper James Trafford to save with a free-kick, the only time there was a real threat in the first half and in the 32nd minute Cherki opened the scoring for the hosts.

A City corner was headed away, but the ball fell outside the penalty area to Cherki, who pushed the ball down with his chest before sliding it to his right foot and sending it flying into the far top corner with an unstoppable shot.

Cherki brought out the Erling Haaland robot party and then went to shake hands with the smiling City striker who was rested on the bench by Guardiola.

City completed the win in the 67th minute when Savinho took the ball into the area and his shot took a bad deflection off Kristoffer Ajer, sending the ball over the keeper.

LATE MILEY GOAL REPRESENTS NEWCASTLE

Newcastle took the lead in the 10th minute when Fulham keeper Benjamin Lecomte pushed Jacob Murphy’s low cross into the path of Yoane Wissa, who marked his first start for the club by firing in from close range.

Fulham, who had started best before falling behind, were level six minutes later as the unmarked Sasa Lukic headed a header into the corner of the net after Antonee Robinson’s cross.

The home fans celebrated taking the lead in the 65th minute when Fulham’s Joachim Andersen turned the ball into his own goal, but the offside flag was raised.

Lecomte made an extra-time save to deny Miley and as the match appeared to be heading to a penalty shootout, Miley’s glancing header from the resulting corner sealed Newcastle’s place in the semi-finals.

“I thought I was going to try to put it on, but luckily it hit the back of the net and I was buzzing,” Miley said Air sports.

“We won last season and hopefully we can do that again this year.”

Published on December 18, 2025