Planning made perfect – Carvalhal

Head coach Carlos Carvalhal felt Sheffield Wednesday’s 3-0 League Cup win over Arsenal was a result of a perfect ‘plan’.

Wednesday inflicted the largest defeat on Arsenal by a lower-division side since 1959 thanks to goals from Ross Wallace, Lucas Joao and Sam Hutchinson.

The result was no smash-and-grab effort from the Championship side, with Arsene Wenger’s men fashioning just a couple of openings throughout the game.

And Carvalhal felt Wednesday’s preparation allowed them to shut their opponents down.

He told Sky Sports: “We had a plan and our players were amazing. Everything belongs to the players.

“The followed the plan and we created a fantastic victory.”

Wenger – as is often the case in this competition – named an experimental XI featuring the likes of Glen Kamara, Alex Iwobi and Joel Campbell.

But while Carvalhal conceded Arsenal were weaker for the changes, the Wednesday boss pointed to the players missing from his own ranks.

He added: “We understood two or three players weren’t there, but we had players missing too.

“They have a great squad and a lot of those players are internationals from different countries.”

The triumph secured Wednesday’s spot in the quarter-final, although Carvalhal is refusing to look too far ahead.

He said: “We have to take it step by step. We are in the Championship and will be the outsiders in this competition.”