IT'S OVER AND OUT FOR VALE AS GUNNERS EARN VICTORY

VALIANT Port Vale put up firm resistance but were unable to make it a fairytale evening against Arsenal in the third round of the Carabao Cup.

- Clive Youlton

Darren Moore’s men lost 2-0 but gave a good account of themselves against Mikel Arteta’s strong team, with the Londoners progressing to the fourth round.

Vale didn’t go down without a fight, though, in front of the Sky TV cameras and they will have earned some new admirers for the way they took on such a daunting task.

Arsenal's priorities have rarely been this competition and they last won it in 1993 while also losing three finals, in 2007 (Chelsea), 2011 (Birmingham City) and 2018 (Manchester City).

But they made no mistake in negotiating their way into the next phase thanks to goals from Eberechi Eze and Leandro Trossard.

This was the first meeting between the two clubs since 1998 when Vale took Arsenal to a replay in a momentous FA Cup third round only to lose on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

Moore made four changes to the Vale team that beat Mansfield Town in League One last weekend, one of them enforced as Liam Gordon is injured.

‘The biggest surprise was star striker Devante Cole being dropped, while skipper Ben Garrity - who suffered the curse of being chosen for the pre-match press conference - and George Byers also had to be satisfied with a place on the bench where Jayden Stockley was also included.

In came Jaheim Headley, Rhys Walters, Ronan Curtis and George Hall, who was making his full debut.

If anybody thought Arsenal would play mostly fringe players they were mistaken as Arteta showed full respect to Vale and the competition by playing a strong team.

Summer signing Christian Norgaard came in for his full debut in midfield while Mikel Merino kept his place from the draw with Manchester City.