A £25.7m summer signing, an Arsenal debutant, Sunderland’s Dave Nugent and Alejandro Garnacho all took their Carabao Cup chance this round.

Ceadach O’Neill (Arsenal)
It was arguably ever so slightly overshadowed by the actions of a player two years his junior, but O’Neill acquitted himself well  on an otherwise disappointing Arsenal debut.

For an hour he was one of their better players, with no-one creating more chances and his cross creating Viktor Gyokeres’ equaliser.

O’Neill made his competitive debut for Northern Ireland last month in a 1-0 win over Georgia, followed by a 3-0 victory against Ukraine a a few days later. These last few weeks have set a precedent for a career marked by international success but disappointment at club level.

Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace)
Eddie Nketiah got his goal and Oscar Mingueza was among those to maximise some particularly rare domestic minutes, but the return of Henderson defined Crystal Palace’s trip to Craven Cottage.

Without their returning captain and best keeper, a third consecutive Carabao quarter-final would not have been likely.

Henderson made four saves, most notably from Alex Iwobi and Gonzalo Garcia, and kept Palace’s first clean sheet in over a month. Walter Benitez will be thanked for his service in largely picking the ball out of his own net, but can step down now.

Geronimo Rulli (Manchester City)
The proud tradition of Manchester City back-up keepers impressing in the domestic cups is stronger than ever. Rulli’s two saves in the shoot-out, and handful of impressive stops in normal time, including tipping Georginio Rutter’s effort onto the bar in the second half, should put pressure on the underperforming Gianluigi Donnarumma.

It is a shame Enzo Maresca just doesn’t know it yet. “No, absolutely not from my point of view,” the manager said when asked if Rulli’s display put pressure on the blundering City No.1. “He is working well but Rulli knows exactly his role, there is no doubt about that.”

A couple more mistakes and Donnarumma will be Claudio Bravo’d for a man who has proven himself quite the Willy Caballero.

Georginio Rutter (Brighton)
It was an imperfect evening tinged with wastefulness from a player who had five shots and more touches in the opposition box than anyone (9), but could have ended the game before it reached the shoot-out stage.

This was the full and infuriating Rutter experience, though: in between those missed chances and poor decisions, he scored one, set up another and tirelessly terrorised the home defence at the Emptyhad.

Rutter has scored and assisted three goals each in his five starts this season. His four Premier League appearances since orchestrating the opening thrashing of Aston Villa have all been from the bench, with Greek teenager Charalampos Kostoulas taking his place.

If Fabian Hurzeler rotates his forward options again soon, Rutter is in pole position and fine form.

Alvaro Rodriguez (Bournemouth)
With a nod to Juanlu Sanchez’s strong debut at right-back, the standout of Bournemouth’s stand-ins against Aston Villa was Rodriguez.

The Cherries made eight changes but Marco Rose saw them dispatch a third former European champion 3-0 in less than a week, Bournemouth having scored 14 goals since they last conceded.

While Eli Junior Kroupi continued his return from injury with a ten-minute cameo, it is Rodriguez who is still keeping the excellent Evanilson honest by pushing for chances.

Rose reckons the £25.7m summer signing has “improved really a lot the last three or four weeks” and is “much better as a link player”. A second goal in three starts cannot hurt.

Alejandro Garnacho (Aston Villa)
Thirty-two minutes is his longest appearance yet of the six he has made under Unai Emery.

The Villa manager even name-dropped Garnacho for “understanding our idea”. Baby steps, fella.

Jocelin Ta Bi (Sunderland)
Held up as “the perfect example for us” by Regis Le Bris, Ta Bi impressed the Sunderland manager by being “brave” and “running probably much more than expected”.

His two assists and shot which was crossing the line before Chemsdine ‘Dave Nugent’ Talbi tapped in certainly helped.

Callum Wilson (Brentford)
No Brentford player has scored more goals this season.

Joe Gomez (Liverpool)
Finally scored! The haters will say it was in a penalty shoot-out, but after more than 300 goalless career appearances we can let him have this.

It was a bloody good spot kick, too. And, to be fair, a solid first start of the season for Liverpool’s eternal defensive Swiss Army knife.

It’s quite weird that Liverpool still have a player signed by Brendan Rodgers in their squad; Gomez impossibly isn’t even 30 yet. Bloody injuries.

Mike Penders (Chelsea)
The bar set by Penders himself against Spurs, but also the calamitous last 427 Chelsea keepers, was admittedly low. But the Belgian repaid Xabi Alonso’s faith and impressed at Anfield.

“He looked really solid. He showed good composure. He dealt with Saturday well,” said his manager. Now to not do a Robert Sanchez at the weekend.