Chelsea bundled out of Carling Cup - United new favourites

There was a Cup shock at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night as Burnley knocked out favourites Chelsea on penalties and that caused a re-order of the betting favourtism.

Burnley held their Premier League rivals 1-1 after extra time and then won a dramatic shootout - and the Clarets can be backed at 40/1 at Centrebet to lift the trophy ahead of the quarter-final draw.

Holders Tottenham marched into the next round of the Carling Cup after defeating Liverpool 4-2 and are now 7/2 chances with Centrebet to hold onto the Cup.

The favourites currently are Manchester United at 2/1 (3.00) at BoyleSports with Arsenal as second favourites at 3.75 at Paddy Power despite their stated intention to keep on "playing the kids".

Blackburn are 8/1 (9.00) at Bet365 after they defeated Sunderland 2-1 while the rest of the market sees Stoke at 20/1 with Derby and Watford at 40s.

Stumble It!

Carling Cup : Arsenal beat Sheffield United and other results

Arsenal's kids gave a display of wonderful talent in a 6-0 home win over Sheffield United, with Carlos Vela the star of the show.

Established first-teamer Nicklas Bendtner (31, 42) finished off clever assists from Vela and Aaron Ramsey to put the Gunners two up before Vela made it three (44) with a lovely curling effort.

The Mexican then grabbed his second by leaving Paddy Kenny on his backside before calmly slotting in his second (50) and 16-year-old Jack Wilshere got in on the act with the fifth (57).

Fittingly, Vela had the last word by completing his hat-trick three minutes from time.

--------

Manchester United and progressed safely - Sir Alex Ferguson's side beating Middlesbrough 3-1.

Cristiano Ronaldo marked his first start of the season with the opener at Old Trafford when he headed in Ryan Giggs' corner (25).

Brad Jones kept Boro in contention with some fine saves before Adam Johnson shocked the home crowd by drawing the visitors level with a shot from the edge of the box (56).

But they found themselves a man down when Emanuel Pogatetz was shown a straight red card for a bad foul on Rodrigo Possebon, who was carried off the pitch with what looked a bad injury.

Chris Riggott's mistake then let in Giggs to put United back in front (79) and Nani made sure of victory in injury time.

-------

Liverpool also progressed after beating Crewe 2-1 at Anfield.

Daniel Agger opened the scoring at Anfield when he fired in a free-kick after 15 minutes.

But Crewe showed they would be no pushovers by equalising through Michael O'Connor (25) after debutant keeper Diego Cavalieri had parried Calvin Zola's header.

There was to be no fairytale victory for the League One side, however, as Lucas headed in Jermaine Pennant's cross (58) for what proved the winner.

---------

UPSETS :

West Ham were knocked out of the cup by Watford at Vicarage Road as goalkeeper Jan Lastuvka missed a cross and the ball went in off Hayden Mullins for an own goal (70) as the Hornets triumphed 1-0.

It was the same scoreline at Turf Moor as a goal from substitute Jay Rodriguez two minutes from the end of the game handed Burnley victory over Fulham.

Stumble It!

Arsenal will stick with "the kids" for the Carling Cup

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will give nearly all of his first team a well-deserved rest on Tuesday night when Coca-Cola Championship side Sheffield United are the visitors to Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal have traditionally played "the kids" in the Carling Cup and the youngsters reached the Carling Cup semi-finals last season, before they lost over two legs to Tottenham.

The Gunners boss confirmed he would adopt the same approach once more - which means the likes of Wales Under-21 midfielder Aaron Ramsey, 16-year-old Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs, reserve-team captain Gavin Hoyte and even first-year scholar Emmanuel Frimpong will get their chance.

Wenger is quoted on the the Arsenal website as saying :
"We have to keep our policy because we lost players in this competition that harmed our chances in the Champions League and the Premier League."

"No matter how far we go, we will keep our policy. Even in a stricter way than before."

"We have great experiences in this Carling Cup and there is always a great excitement for the young players to play."

Stumble It!

Carling Cup : Arsenal met Sheffield United - again!

Arsenal and Sheffield United will have to stop meeting like this after being drawn together in the third round of the Carling Cup, the third time in four years that the two sides will have met in knock-out competitions.

Last year, Arsenal were comfortable winners against the Championship side at Bramall Lane in the fourth round and with home advantage this time will expect to make similarly smooth progress.

There are 4 all Premier League ties, with Portsmouth hosting Chelsea and Newcastle hosting Spurs in the best ties of the round.

Third round draw - Ties to be played week starting September 22

Arsenal v Sheffield Utd;
Brighton or Man City v Derby;
Burnley v Fulham;
Portsmouth v Chelsea;
Blackburn v Everton;
Rotherham v Southampton;
Swansea v Cardiff;
Ipswich v Wigan;
Stoke v Reading;
Leeds v Hartlepool;
Watford v West Ham;
Man Utd v Middlesbrough;
Liverpool v Crewe;
Aston Villa v QPR;
Sunderland v Northampton;
Newcastle v Tottenham.

Stumble It!

Carling Cup Round-up - Bolton, WBA, Hull dumped out

Adebayo Akinfenwa was Northampton Town's two-goal hero as the League One side dumped Bolton Wanderers of the Premier League out of the Carling Cup with a 2-1 win last night.

BOLTON WANDERERS 1-2 NORTHAMPTON TOWN
The London-born striker put the visitors ahead in the 22nd minute from the penalty spot after Gavin McCann had handled and then doubled the lead when he latched on to a cross from Abdul Osman six minutes later. Bolton's night took a turn for the worse before half-time when Gary Cahill received a straight red card for a challenge on Giles Coke.

Before the game the Bolton manager, Gary Megson, had stressed that the Carling Cup was "a big priority", saying "I want to pick the strongest team", but despite Kevin Nolan's 88th-minute goal they could not deny the Cobblers a place in the next round.

HARTLEPOOL 3-1 WEST BROM (AET)
Joel Porter's 61st-minute strike looked like it had put the home side through but Robert Koren equalised in the 87th minute to ensure an extra 30 minutes were played. Hartlepool were the stronger side and went through after substitutes David Foley and Richie Barker both found the net.

SWANSEA CITY 2-1 HULL CITY (AET)
Hull also fell at the first hurdle despite being given an early lead by Dean Windass at Swansea. Gorka Pintado equalised and a penalty from his fellow Spaniard Jordi Gómez in extra-time sealed the win for the Swans.

QPR 4-0 CARLISLE UTD
QPR's Argentinian winger, Emmanuel Ledesma, hit a hat-trick as west London's nouveaux riches thrashed Carlisle 4-0. Ledesma, who is on loan from Genoa, struck after Damian Stewart had given the home team the lead in the 48th minute.

LEEDS UTD 4-0 CRYSTAL PALACE
Leeds, who defeated Chester 5-2 in the previous round, notched up another impressive Carling Cup victory, beating Crystal Palace 4-0 at Elland Road. The Nigerian striker Enoch Showunmi completed a miserable evening for Neil Warnock's men who have yet to win in the league this season.

PRESTON NORTH END 0-1 DERBY COUNTY
A goal from Paul Green brought some respite for Derby's under-fire manager, Paul Jewell, as the Rams secured a morale-boosting 1-0 win at Preston

SOUTHAMPTON 2-0 BIRMINGHAM CITY
Southampton enjoyed a 2-0 home win over Birmingham, with goals in either half from Lee Holmes and Adam Lallana avenging a league defeat by Blues at St Mary's earlier this season.

MIDDLESBROUGH 5-1 YEOVIL TOWN
Mido was again on the mark for Middlesbrough, scoring the opener after 11 minutes as the Teessiders ran out convincing 5-1 winners at home to Yeovil.

READING 5-1 LUTON TOWN
A Nicky Hunt brace and two goals in two second-half minutes from Alex Pearce and Jem Karacan put Reading in the comfort zone against Luton in a match that finished 5-1.

Stumble It!

bet365 offer bet on "Bridesmaid Ballack"

Bridesmaid Ballack 5/2 To Choke Next Season

bet365 are offering 5/2 that Michael Ballack finishes on the losing side for Chelsea in a cup final next season.

bet365 spokesman Steve Freeth "Ballack's trophy cabinet should have more winners medals than it does and his nearly man tag will have been added to after tasting yet more defeat on Sunday night."

Will Ballack Be A Losing Finalist Next Season?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes 5/2
No 2/7

(Ballack must actually feature for Chelsea in a final to count.
Champions League , Carling Cup &/or FA Cup)

Take a look at the odds at bet365 now

Stumble It!

Spurs heading to Wembley

Tottenham are off to Wembley for the Carling Cup final after hammering Arsenal 5-1 (6-2 on aggregate) in their semi-final.

Goals from Jermaine Jenas, Nicklas Bendtner (own goal), Robbie Keane, Aaron Lennon and Steed Malbranque earnt Spurs the victory with substitute Emmanuel Adebayor grabbing a consolation for the Gunners.

Betfred are facing a £500,000 payout after Spurs' victory.

"We were hoping that the Gunners would have blasted the Spurs defence apart." said Betfred spokesman Dave Metcalf.

"It was the worst result imaginable for us as we have laid Spurs heavily at 4-1 to win the competition outright, including one single bet of £50,000 to win £200,000. If Spurs go on to land the Carling Cup it will be us who are needing a few drinks to drown our sorrows!, " added Dave.

Stumble It!

Chelsea take first step towards Carling Cup final

Chelsea have the upper hand over Everton after the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final thanks to a 2-1 success.

The Toffees looked to have forced a draw at Stamford Bridge but a late header from Shaun Wright-Phillips went in off Everton defender Joleon Lescott to give Chelsea the advantage.

The bookmakers now make Chelsea 1.33 to progress to the final and 2.10 (Ladbrokes) to lift the trophy while Everton are 9/4 to turn things around and 8.00 (Bet365) to win the competition outright.

Wednesday night sees Arsenal and Tottenham in action in their last-four first leg with the Gunners 3.75 second favourites (BetFred) for the silverware and Spurs 4.50 (Eurobet).

Stumble It!

Carling Cup Semi-final Draw

North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham will meet in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup for the second season in a row.

Chelsea, the last team in the draw after beating Liverpool 2-0 on Wednesday evening, will play Everton.

The two-legged semi-finals take place in the weeks starting 7 and 21 January.

OUTRIGHT ODDS (all from Bet365) :
Chelsea 2.38, - Arsenal 3.50, - Tottenham 5.00, - Everton 6.00

Stumble It!

Arsenal and Spurs through to Carling Cup semis

North London neighbours Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur eached the semi-finals of the English League Cup following wins against Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City.

Arsenal kids prevail in Extra time.
Arsenal changed all 11 players from the side that had beaten Chelsea just 48 hours earlier as "the kids took paert in a dramatic encounter at Ewood Park.

Arsenal raced into a two-goal lead through strikes from Abou Diaby and Eduardo da Silva. However, despite the visitors looking dominant, Blackburn's Roque Santa Cruz got one back just before half-time and then latched on to David Bentley's free-kick after an hour to level the tie.

Rovers were applying the late pressure, and Arsenal's Denilson was sent off for a wild challenge as the match went into extra time leaving the Gunners a man short. However, in the additional period Alexandre Song released Eduardo who finished calmly past home goalkeeper Brad Friedel to secure a 3-2 victory for the Gunners.

Spurs win with another Ten-man effort
Meanwhile, goals at the beginning and the end of the game from Jermain Defoe and Steed Malbranque gave Tottenham a 2-0 win and inflicted Manchester City's first home defeat of the season.

Not even having to play with ten men for 70 minutes after Didier Zokora's dismissal could hamper Spurs, who go into the last-four draw on Wednesday together with Arsenal, Everton and the winner of the Chelsea / Liverpool tie who meet on Wednesday.

Stumble It!

Carling Cup Outright Betting

Chelsea remain favourites to win the Carling Cup after overcoming a mighty scare to beat Leicester 4-3 at Stamford Bridge this week.

Frank Lampard completed a hat-trick with an injury-time winner to put the holders into the quarter-finals and Chelsea are 11/4 favourites (3.75) with Ladbrokes to defend the trophy.

Arsenal's latest batch of young Gunners cruised into the last eight with a 3-0 win at Sheffield United. Last season's runners-up were comfortable victors at Bramall Lane thanks to Eduardo da Silva's brilliant double and a deflected third from Denilson.

Liverpool were made to work harder as they overcame Cardiff 2-1 at Anfield. But a Steven Gerrard winner soon after proved good enough for the Reds.

Spurs are fourth favourites after Juande Ramos' first game in charge ended in a 2-0 home win over Blackpool. Robbie Keane and Pascal Chimbonda got the goals.

Manchester City (1-0 winners at Bolton), Blackburn (2-1 winners at Portsmouth) and Everton (1-0 extra-time winners at Luton) are all 11/1 at bet365 while West Ham are the 14/1 outsiders of the all-Premier League quarter-final line-up.

The draw for the quarterfinals takes place on Saturday.

ODDS :
Chelsea 3.75 @ Ladbrokes
Arsenal 4.50 @ Bet365
Liverpool 5.50 @ BetFred
Tottenham 10.00 @ Ladbrokes
Manchester City 12.00 @ Bet365

Stumble It!

Arsenal 3-1 Tottenham (AET) With Video

Arsenal have squeezed through to the final of the Carling Cup - after having to go to extra-time before finally dealing to a dogged Spurs side.

While it's been a story of "Young Arsenal" throughout the preliminary rounds - it was a more senior team tonight - with only Thierry Henry given the night off (although that is a very LARGE only).

We had Gilberto back and Adebayor on up front - and this team dominated Spurs in the first half but were unable to make a breakthrough.

DENILSON IS CLASS ...
The standout player for me was the young Brazilian Denilson (18yo) who seemed inspired by playing alongside his world cup winning countryman and really dominated the show from start to finish.

WALCOTT IS .. WELL .. NOT
By comparison the English wonderkid Theo Walcott had another effort to forget, showing an appaulling touch on many occasions, and he was very wasteful with both passing and crossing. He may be fast - but he's constantly choosing to attempt balls that he doesn't have the skill to complete.

SCORELESS AT THE BREAK
Walcott was substituted in the 63rd minute for Tomas Rosicky and Arsenal instantly looked a much more dangerous outfit - and it was no surprise when Adebayor finally gave the Gunners a 1-0 lead in the 77th minute.



But Spurs boss Martin Jol reacted - bringing on the transfer-bound Mido who almost immediately popped up with a set-piece goal and it was 1-1 with 5 minutes left and extra-time loomed.

EXTRA TIME REQUIRED
But Arsenal were dominant now - with Cesc Febregas (who had replaced Diaby) and Denilson running the middle or the park and a goal just before the extra-time break from Aliadiere gave Arsenal an advantage that looked to be enough.



Spurs had top chase the game, and Arsenal's lead was extended 4 minutes later when a Rosicky shot went in off a post and the unlucky Tottenham defender Chimbonda ... and at 3-1 on the night the game was done.



Arsenal ended the night showboating with a display of possession and Tottenham were chasing shadows ... and not getting close.

Bizarrely Spurs fans started chanting "England, England, England ..." which seemed a little xenophobic and certainly made a rather weak point. (except perhaps that England don't win many trophies either?)

Arsenal through to the final then - to face Chelsea's expensively assembled squad of veterens ...
---------

THE KIDS ARE OK - BUT EXPERIENCE WAS NEEDED ...
All in all - an interesting encounter - and another derby win for Arsenal over Spurs - but despite the headlines it was NOT the kids who won the game as by the end of the match it was Silva, Denilson, Fabregas and Rosicky who were the difference - and three of that quartet are first choice players.

So I wonder if Arsene Wenger will play "the kids" or whether the team that finished at the end will be closer to the team that plays the last English trophy in Cardiff ?

We will see ...

Stumble It!

Arsenal Odds on for Carling Cup Final

Two goals from Julio Baptisa - who was obviously motivated by scoring an own-goal earlier - enabled the Arsenal kids to battle back for a 2-2 result in the first leg ot the Carling Cup final at White Hart Lane.

The bookmakers have reacted by slashing the odds on Arsenal reaching the final of the Carling cup with Will Hill making the Gunners 2/5 (1.40) favourites while Spurs have drifted out to 7/4 (2.75).

In the overall market Chelsea are 1.66 at BetFair and are strong favourites while Arsenal are best priced 3.75 at SportingOdds and Spurs a staggering 11.00 at VCBet.

As usual there is wide variation at the bookmakers, with Arsenal as low as 2.50 and Spurs quoted at 5.50 at one bookie, so make sure that your getting the top prices as indicated if you're having a punt.

I've taken a slice of that SportingOdds price - as I'm sure it won't last.

Good luck.

Stumble It!

Spirit of 1987 : The Littlewoods Cup Victory

Blood hell - is it really 20 years since The Arse beat Liverpool in the Littlewoods Cup thanks to a pair of goals from Champagne Charlie Nicolas?

The League Cup was a big thing back in the 80's of course. English Clubs had been kicked out of Europe and so only had the three domestic competitions to play for and both knockout competitions were full on.

ARSENAL BEAT MIGHTY LIVERPOOL
And I remember that the win over Liverpool in the final was a big thing - maybe not a massive event - but it was Arsenal's first trophy since the FA Cup in 1979 - it was done on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Wembley on national TV (still a novelty back then) and it was enough to convince Gooners that George Graham was on the right path.

Remember that Liverpool were the domiant side of the 70's and 80's and seemed to have an iron grip on this competition - winning it four seasons running - and they'd never lost when Ian Rush had scored for them ... until Perry Groves and Charlie Nicholas conjured up the winner.

Two years later Arsenal delivered the League Championship to the Highbury faithful in the most dramatic of circumstances at Anfield (see the post below) - and later on the players said that the confidence and belief stemmed at least in part from that particular day at Wembley.

----

But of course that all may not have happened if Arsenal had not got past Spurs in the semi-finals.

YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT QUIET CHAS !!
Tottenham won the first leg at Highbury 2-1, and were leading 1-0 in the second leg at halftime for a 3-1 aggregate lead ... it all seemed over for Arsenal until a cheeky Tottenham stadium announcer decided to fill in the silence during halftime telling supporters where they could queue for final tickets after the game.

Big mistake. The players heard it. That insult helped launch an Arsenal comeback, with the Gunners winning 2-1 to force a 3rd replay three days later - which Arsenal also won at White Hart Lane with two goals in the last 7 minutes.

There were scenes of wild celebration after that semi-final win .... yes that's right - for a league Cup semi-final - it was seen as a major win.

----

So think about it, the 1987 Littlewoods Cup win, then the 1989 Anfield Miracle, followed by the 1991 Championship and the 1993 Cup double. It all might never have happened.

Dennis Bergkamp might never have been enticed over, Arsene Wenger might never have joined and we may never have seen Theirry Henry playing in the red and white shirt ...

If only that Spurs announcer had kept his trap shut ...

Hmmmmmmm - It makes you think ...
:-))))

Stumble It!

Carling Cup Q/Final : Liverpool 3-6 Arsenal

Wow! I don't think that anyone expected that result.

I was very surprised to see that Rafa Benitez made so many changes to the Liverpool team - especially after he'd been recently telling the press that Liverpool don't have much strength in depth ...

... but perhaps he just wanted to prove his point ?!!
;-)

Here's video highlights of the match ..

Stumble It!

Carling Cup - Liverpool v Arsenal

We've got Chris's preview of Liverpool v Arsenal online and it really does look as for Liverpool have got more to play for here.

Liverpool were stung by the 1-3 loss on the weekend - after going about 15 months since losing a domestic competition match at Anfield, and Rafa Benitez seems to have changed his plans to take a relaxed approach to this match.

The Gunners have typically looked on this tournament as a development exercise for new players and/or players returning from injury - and that looks set to continue tonight with a significantly changed team from last Saturday.

Arsenal really don't NEED to progress any further in the Carling Cup - their fixture list looks like it's busy enough with Champions League and FA Cup action - and with a potential two-legged tie with Spurs waiting in the semi-finals that would be two more games that the fans would demand were taken seriously.

So, with Liverpool the natural favourites anyway this additional motivation means that I really do favour Liverpool to exact a small measure of revenge.

I'd recommend taking Liverpool to win in 90 minutes - but instead of accepting the 1.70-1.85 on offer make sure that you get the best odds by checking out the Asian Handicap side at Bet365.

The Internet bookie are offering 1.83 for Liverpool to win - or 1.93 for Liverpool to beat the -1/2 goal handicap - which is exactly the same bet.

Don't ask me why these variances happen - they just do from time to time - so if you ARE betting on Liverpool then do yourself a favour and take the AH -1/2 play at Bet365.

Good luck.

Stumble It!

Carling Cup - Liverpool v Arsenal Postponed

Ref Martin Atkinson's made the decision to postpone Liverpool's Carling Cup tie with Arsenal.

Yorkshire official Atkinson felt foggy conditions at Anfield on Tuesday night left him little option but to call off the quarter-final.

Both Reds manager Benitez and Gunners counterpart Arsene Wenger wanted to play and Atkinson said he did all he could to keep the match on, but felt the conditions could compromise safety.

"We are all disappointed the game could not go ahead," said Atkinson. "It's a massive game and from an official's point of view we want to be officiating.

"From the situation, we can't do that. For us to start the game and then have an assistant not being able to see an offside decision would bring the game into a farce."

Wenger admitted he had been keen to see how his side, which was to have included a number of fringe players, would cope against an expected stronger hosts' line-up.

"It's very much disappointing because the young players had a good opportunity to play tonight," he told Radio Five Live. "We had a good mixture of experienced and young players and I think it would have been very interesting."

Wenger said he would have happily played the match on Wednesday night but there was not enough time to put everything in place."It is impossible in 24 hours to rearrange a game," he added.

Anfield stadium manager Ged Poynton explained: "You need 10 days' notice minimum to inform Merseyside Police for their requirements."

Stumble It!