Manchester United responded to the firing of Erik ten Hag by scoring four goals in the first 38 minutes on the way to a 5-2 thrashing of Leicester in the English League Cup, while Tottenham eliminated Manchester City in the last 16 on Wednesday.
Also advancing to the competition’s first all-Premier League quarterfinals lineup in 14 years were defending champion Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle and Crystal Palace.
Two days after Ten Hag’s exit, United displayed the cutting edge so often lacking under the Dutchman with Brazil midfielder Casemiro scoring two of the team’s first-half goals — one a curling strike into the top corner from 30 meters.
Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes also netted in that early flurry of goals, while Fernandes added a fifth in the 59th.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, United’s former star striker, took charge of United having been Ten Hag’s assistant, and enjoyed what might be his only game at the helm. United appears close to bringing in Sporting Lisbon coach Ruben Amorim as the replacement for Ten Hag.
“It is clear that this is going to be short term,” Van Nistelrooy said, “so for me today was the most important day after what happened. In such short notice … credit to the players, they were fantastic.”
It was a night to forget for Premier League leader Man City, which not only lost the match to Tottenham 2-1 but also lost Savinho and Manuel Akanji to injuries to further deplete Pep Guardiola’s ravaged squad.
Goals by Timo Werner and Pape Sarr in the opening 25 minutes put Tottenham two goals clear before Matheus Nunes reduced the deficit in first-half stoppage time for City.
Akanji was injured in the warmup and didn’t start the game, while Savinho hurt his ankle and was in tears as he was carried off the field on a stretcher in the 63rd minute. City is already without Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish because of injuries.
“We are in a difficult position with the amount of players,” Guardiola said.
Tottenham, which also sustained injuries to Micky van de Ven and Werner, was drawn to play Man United in the quarterfinals.
Liverpool continued its title defense with a 3-2 win over Brighton that was sparked by a double from Cody Gakpo.
The Netherlands international scored in the 46th and 63rd minutes at Amex Stadium, while Luis Diaz added a third in the 85th after Brighton had pulled a goal back through Simon Adingra.
Liverpool held on after Tariq Lamptey scored Brighton’s second goal in the 90th and will need to make another trip to the south coast in the last eight to play Southampton.
Liverpool has won the League Cup a record 10 times, most recently last season with a victory over Chelsea in the final.
Newcastle beat Chelsea 2-0 thanks to Alexander Isak’s close-range strike and an own-goal by Axel Disasi and next faces Brentford, while Palace — fielding American goalkeeper Matt Turner for his debut and his first club appearance since April 2 for Nottingham Forest — defeated Aston Villa 2-1 thanks to goals by Eberechi Eze and Daichi Kamada. Jhon Duran netted for Villa.
Palace’s reward is a last-eight match against Arsenal, which was a 3-0 winner at second-tier Preston after goals by Gabriel Jesus, Ethan Nwaneri and Kai Havertz.
Quarterfinal draw
Tottenham vs. Manchester United
Arsenal vs. Crystal Palace
Newcastle vs. Brentford
Southampton vs. Liverpool
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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