A comedy goal and a controversial effort helped Arsenal into the Carling Cup last eight at Newcastle's expense. An attempted nodded clearance from Ryan Taylor hit his own keeper Tim Krul before going into the Magpies net to give Arsenal the lead. Theo Walcott raced through and dinked in a second after Nicklas Bendtner appeared to block a defender on the way back from an offside position. Bendtner then curled in a shot and Walcott slotted in Arsenal's fourth. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger's side had an unusually stronger look to it than the line-ups he has chosen to field in previous seasons of the Carling Cup and he was rewarded with an ultimately convincing win. And, while a five-year trophy absence might have had something to do with Wenger taking the competition more seriously, the need for some of his more renowned stars to get some first-team football also played a part. Walcott, Bendtner, Tomas Rosicky, Denilson and Laurent Koscielny have all recently returned from injury and they helped the visitors make a blistering start. Williamson was robbed of the ball by Rosicky in the opening minute and the Arsenal playmaker slid a pass through to Carlos Vela, whose strike was saved by the out-stretched leg of Krul. From the resultant corner, Williamson had to twice block Bendtner shots at the far post before Krul smartly saved the Dane's third attempt. Youngster Haris Vuckic sent an angled shot into the side-netting at the other end before Arsenal resumed their assault on the home goal, with Walcott's pace and movement causing Newcastle all sorts of problems. Bendtner dragged an angled strike wide before the Tyneside outfit almost punished Wenger's side for not making more of their chances. Danny Guthrie played a ball over the top of the Arsenal defence to release Nile Ranger and, after he stumbled past the challenge of on-rushing keeper Wojciech Szczesny, his shot was blocked by Koscielny. Almost immediately, Alan Smith launched a thunderous 30-yard strike which was brilliantly tipped on to the crossbar by Szczesny. Newcastle started to contain their rivals as they worked their way into the game before they went behind on the stroke of half-time. Krul was distracted by Craig Eastmond, who might have got a faint touch, as he flapped at a Bendtner header and, when Taylor tried to nod clear off the goal-line, all he managed to do was hit the ball against his keeper as it came off him and went into the home goal. James Perch could have levelled matters had he not put a free header over from 10 yards prior to the main moment of controversy in the game. Bendtner, who was trotting back from an offside position, collided with Williamson as the centre-back tried to race back and get to Walcott, who had been released on goal by Johan Djourou's clearing header and dinked over Krul to add to Arsenal's lead. Newcastle threw on Andy Carroll and Jonas Gutierrez as they valiantly tried to get back into the game but, with Arsenal being one of the best exponent's of counter-attacking football, only found themselves falling further behind. Substitute Cesc Fabregas passed for Bendtner to cut inside and find the top corner with a precise strike before Walcott again raced clear and sidefooted past Krul. Credit: BBC