Arsenal and Chelsea overcame English Premier League opponents to reach the League Cup quarterfinals Wednesday, with the Gunners beating Liverpool 2-1 and the Blues routing Bolton 4-0. Fran Merida and Nicklas Bendtner scored for a mostly second-string Arsenal against similarly weakened opponents as rival managers Arsene Wenger and Rafa Benitez continued to rate England's second cup competition low on their priorities. But Premier League leader Chelsea fielded a strong side to easily beat visiting Bolton, while Manchester City also drew upon its experienced players to outclass Scunthorpe 5-1. Liverpool was coming off a surprise 2-0 win over Manchester United and Arsenal a disappointing 2-2 draw at lowly West Ham, but the starting lineups on Wednesday showed a total of 20 changes from those matches to make predicting a result at Emirates Stadium especially tricky. Arsenal, Chelsea and City join defending champion Manchester United, 2008 winner Tottenham, Aston Villa, Portsmouth and Blackburn in the lineup for the quarterfinals. The draw will be made on Saturday with the matches scheduled for the week starting Nov. 30. The final is at Wembley on Feb. 28. Rayo upsets Athletic Rayo Vallecano beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 as lower-level clubs gained inspiration from Alcorcon's stunning upset of Real Madrid to win several fourth round Copa del Rey matches Wednesday. Second-division Rayo was not alone in beating a topflight club as Hercules beat Almeria 2-1 and Celta Vigo held on for a 2-1 victory over Tenerife. Joaquin Sanchez's ninth-minute goal ensured Valencia didn't start with a loss as the 2008 champion won 1-0 at third-division Alcoyano, while Antonio Lopo's goal in the 77th led Deportivo La Coruna to a 1-0 win at second-division Murcia. In matchups between topflight clubs, Osasuna won 2-1 at Xerez, Antonio “Apono” Galdeano's 76th-minute penalty rallied Malaga to a 1-1 draw against Zaragoza, while Juan Angel Albin's and Jaime Gavilan's second-half scores paced Getafe over Espanyol 2-0. Madrid was humiliated 4-0 by third-division Alcorcon – whose payroll is 400 times smaller than the Spanish powerhouse – Tuesday. At Teresa Rivero Stadium, Nestor Susaeta curled in a free kick in the sixth minute to give Rayo the lead. Goalkeeper Dani Jimenez dove across goal to stop Inigo Perez's point-blank shot in the 18th – two minutes before Sergio Pachon slotted home the second. Juventus routs Sampdoria Brazilian striker Amauri scored twice as Juventus routed Sampdoria 5-1 to jump ahead of Genoa into second place in the Serie A Wednesday. Amauri found the target in the 26th and 62nd minutes, raising his tally to four in Juventus' last four games. Giorgio Chiellini, Mauro Camoranesi and David Trezeguet also scored for Juventus and Giampaolo Pazzini had a goal for the visitors. AC Milan squandered a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw at Napoli, where German Denis scored a 90th-minute equalizer after Filippo Inzaghi and Alexandre Pato had put Milan up 2-0 after only five minutes. Inter Milan leads with 22 points. Juventus is second with 21, Sampdoria has 20 and Parma, which beat Bari 2
