Arsenal are through to the quarter-finals of the EFL (League) Cup for the first time in four years after defeating Reading on Tuesday night.
A mix-and-match Gunners line-up successfully got the job done at the Emirates Stadium with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain providing the goals for the North Londoners in their 2-0 triumph over the Royals.
Arsene Wenger handed starts to goalkeeper Emi Martinez, defenders Kieran Gibbs, Gabriel Paulista, Rob Holding and Carl Jenkinson, holding midfielders Mohamed Elneny and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, attacking mids Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Alex Iwobi and Alex-Oxlade-Chamberlain, with summer signing Lucas Perez starting up front.
Arsenal were relentless in the early stages before fringe senior player Oxlade-Chamberlain did the damage just after the half-hour mark when he confidently ran at Tyler Blackett before unleashing a fizzing effort between the defender's legs and into Ali Al-Habsi's bottom corner.
Jaap Stam's Reading were close to equalising on the hour-mark when substitute Yann Kermorgant headed goal-ward only for Martinez to scramble to his right to keep things clean at the back for the Gunners, before Iwobi missed a glorious chance for the home side when failing to get the ball out of his feet on 74 minutes.
Thankfully for Wenger's men, the second goal came soon after on 78 minutes when the returning Olivier Giroud held up play nicely near the byline before teeing up Oxlade-Chamberlain who hammered home a first-time half-volley which took a handy deflection beyond Al-Habsi to take his season scoring numbers to five - his best season tally at Arsenal.
Martinez did brilliantly to keep out a late free-kick from Kermorgant, which evaded the wall, allowing Arsenal to keep a seventh clean sheet in their past eight outings in all competitions with three different goalkeepers.
There victory gives Arsenal 14 wins from 14 matches against the Berkshire club who will head back to the Championship and continue to focus on their promotion push under the guidance of Manchester United great Stam.
For Arsenal, their fairly youthful outfit will look ahead to the final eight fixture at the end of November while the squad as a whole will now get set for Saturday's trip to the Premier League's bottom side Sunderland.
2016/17 EFL Cup - fourth round
Arsenal (PREM): 2 (Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 33'/78')
Reading (CHA): 0
Emirates Stadium, London - 59,865
