Gabriel Jesus ended his goal drought at the Emirates Stadium with a hat-trick to help Arsenal come from behind to beat Crystal Palace 3-2 on Wednesday and advance to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.
Holders Liverpool also progressed to the semi-finals with a 2-1 win at Southampton, while 2023 finalists Newcastle United saw off Brentford 3-1.
Palace took a shock lead at the Emirates with their first shot of the match, with Jean-Philippe Mateta outmuscling Jakub Kiwior to score the opener.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta made eight changes from the side that started their 0-0 draw with Everton at the weekend, with Kieran Tierney making his first appearance for the Gunners since the 2023 Community Shield, but the players who came in did not largely have the desired effect.
Arteta, sensing that the game was slipping away from Arsenal, introduced captain Martin Odegaard and William Saliba at the start of the second half.
They looked a different team – Raheem Sterling hitting the bar from close range after Henderson saved his initial effort – before Odegaard slipped an inch-perfect pass to Jesus, who controlled excellently before chipping the ball over Henderson to level the match.
Jesus then got his second of the match when he was played into the box by second-half substitute Bukayo Saka and he fired low into the bottom corner.
The forward looked marginally offside when he reacted to get on the end of Saka’s pass but, with no VAR until the next round, the strike stood.
The Brazilian completed his hat-trick when he again was found by Odegaard and drilled his shot past Henderson to win the game.
There was time for former Arsenal player Eddie Nketiah to grab a consolation goal but the Gunners held firm to reach the last four.
At St Mary’s, Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliot gave Liverpool a 2-0 first-half lead before Cameron Archer pulled one back for Southampton, who had Super Eagles midfielder Joe Aribo in their starting line-up and brought on Paul Onuachu for the final 17 minutes of regulation time.
Sandro Tonali struck twice in the first half and Fabian Schar added a third for Newcastle at St James’ Park before Yoane Wissa netted a late consolation for Brentford.
The semi-final line-up will be completed on Thursday night when Tottenham Hotspur host 2023 winners Manchester United in the last quarter-final.
