Eze opens his account to end Port Vale run

For Arsenal the night will be remembered for Eberechi Eze's first goal for the club but for Port Vale they will look back at when they ran a Premier League giant to the very end, only to fall short and out of the Carabao Cup.

- Will Unwin

Once Eze scored early on, it felt like Arsenal would thrash their League One opponents but instead it was a tight game as Port Vale gave everything. They did not have the requisite quality and Arsenal scored again, the second coming late on from Leandro Trossard.

The hosts offered the anticipated blood and thunder approach in the opening seconds of the match, spurred on by the biggest Vale Park crowd this century. But before the smoke from the pre-match pyrotechnics settled, Arsenal were in control and ahead. Gabriel Martinelli found Eze in the middle of the box in the eighth minute, aided by a Myles Lewis-Skelly dummy, and the former Crystal Palace playmaker calmly placed the ball beyond Joe Gauci for his first Gunners goal.