Arsenal have beaten Blackburn Rovers 3-2 after extra-time in a hugely entertaining Carling Cup quarter-final at Ewood Park on Tuesday. Goals from Abou Diaby and Eduardo gave The Gunners’ young team a 2-0 lead, with Roque Santa Cruz scoring a brace to take the game to extra time, but with the 10-man Arsenal sealing the win in extra-time through a second goal from Eduardo.

Arsenal took the lead in just the 6th minute of the match, with Abou Diaby latching on to a cross from Nicklas Bentner and lobbing the ball with his right foot over Brad Friedel and into the top corner of the net to make it 1-0.

Bentner almost extended the visitor’s lead just minutes later, but his shot ricocheted off the crossbar, much to the relief of the Rovers defence, who were struggling to control the young Arsenal side early in the match, with Lassana Diarra and Armande Traore in particular causing the Rovers defence problems.

Blackburn’s first real chance at goal came in the 21st minute, from an in-swinging corner that almost caught Lukasz Fabianski off guard and his punch-away fell dangerously in the penalty area, but was cleared to safety.

As the first-half progressed, the home side started finding their flow, with David Dunn testing Fabianski will a long-range drive, but just seconds later, Blackburn’s enthusiasm left space at the back, with Croatian striker Eduardo da Silva benefiting from a slip by Christopher Samba and shooting past Friedel to make it 2-0 to the visitors.

David Bentley’s free-kick forced Fabianski into another save in the 35th minute, but it was four minutes before the break that Blackburn pulled a goal back through Roque Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz scored from a cross from Matt Derbyshire, who just managed to avoid the offside trap to fling the ball into the path of the onrushing Santa Cruz who knocked in from close range to take the match to 2-1 at the break.

Blackburn came out for the second half with far more intent and Roque Santa Cruz almost got the equaliser within minutes of the restart after beating Philippe Senderos and Alexandre Song in the Gunners defence, but the ball got tangled in his feet as he teed up to shoot and the ball was cleared away for a corner.

A couple of good chances were missed by Rovers as the game came to the half hour mark, with some ragged defending from Arsenal giving the home side a host of corners, with the set-pieces rattling the Gunners defence.

Blackburn’s second-half dominance paid off in the 60th minute, with new Ewood Park hero Roque Santa Cruz scoring his second goal of the match to bring the scores level at 2-2.

Despite the home side bossing the match in the second half, Arsenal were still a major threat and Brad Friedel had to be alert to keep the scores level.

Roque Santa Cruz and Matt Derbyshire were constant threats and also tested Fabianski in the Arsenal goal.

Santa Cruz had a perfect chance to give Rovers the win with just two minutes of normal time to play, miscuing his close-range volley when he found space at the far post.

Benni McCarthy replaced Matt Derbyshire in the 90th minute of the match as the game seemed set to go to extra-time.

There was some last minute drama when, in injury-time, Denilson was shown a straight red card for a late challenge, with Robbie Savage receiving a yellow card for his involvement.

The match went into extra-time and the 10-men of Arsenal were dealt another blow when substitute Nacer Barazite was stretchered off the pitch with a dislocated shoulder early into extra-time. The 17-year-old Dutch striker was replaced by Spanish midfielder Fran Merida Perez.

Benni McCarthy shot wide, only to see that the linesman had already raised his flag as Blackburn looked to seal a win, but they were caught on the break by Eduardo, who made a superb run down the middle to pick the ball up and strike past Friedel for his second goal of the match, giving Arsenal a 3-2 lead.

Both sides were tiring as the second half of extra-time came, with some players suffering from cramp and some late challenges coming in from both sides.

Benni McCarthy had a shot go wide and Christopher Samba and Morten Gamst Pedersen both had shots blocked as Blackburn desperately pushed for another equaliser, but the Arsenal defence held on firm to deny Rovers and register a hard fought win in an excellent Carling Cup match and earn them a place in the semi-final.

Blackburn Rovers team: Brad Friedel, Steven Reid, Christopher Samba, Ryan Nelsen (c), Stephen Warnock (Zurab Khizanishvili, 120), David Bentley, Robbie Savage, David Dunn (Aaron Mokoena, 105), Morten Gamst Pedersen, Matt Derbyshire (Benedict McCarthy, 90), Roque Santa Cruz.

Blackburn Rovers substitutes not used: Jason Brown (GK), Jason Roberts.

Arsenal team: Lukasz Fabianski, Justin Hoyte, Philippe Senderos (c), Alexandre Song, Vassiriki Abou Diaby, Armande Traore, Lassana Diarra, Da Silva Eduardo (Kieran Gibbs, 115), Neves Denilson, Nicklas Bendtner, Mark Randall (Nacer Barazite, 80 (Fran Merida Perez, 100).

Arsenal substitutes not used: Vito Mannone (GK), Gavin Hoyte.

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