A young Arsenal side delighted a near capacity crowd at the Emirates Stadium with a 2-1 victory over Liverpool to secure a place in the League Cup quarter-finals late on Wednesday.

Manchester City thumped Championship side Scunthorpe United 5-1 to take their place in the last eight and Chelsea saw off Bolton Wanderers 4-0 at Stamford Bridge. The trio joined holders Manchester United, last year’s runners-up Tottenham Hotspur, Blackburn Rovers, Portsmouth and Aston Villa in an all-Premier League draw for the quarter-finals which takes place on Saturday.

Fran Merida put Arsenal ahead with a superb curling left-foot shot after 19 minutes, before Liverpool equalised with an equally stunning shot from Argentine Emiliano Insua six minutes later.

Liverpool, also fielding a team of promising youngsters and seeking their first win at Arsenal for nine years, played excellent football but were eliminated after Nicklas Bendtner scored with a powerful left-foot close range drive after 50 minutes.

“I believe overall it was a game of top quality with two teams who really went for it. You can say tonight we gave people what they paid for: Top quality. Liverpool came back but we still won the game. That shows we have the mental quality,” Wenger said.