Carling Cup Roundup - 28th Oct 2010
The English League Cup may be regarded as the third best trophy in the country but when it comes to football on the pitch, the quality is at par with any other competition or league in the world.
With a total of 92 teams participating in the competition, its now down to the last 8 and with a berth in Europe guaranteed for the winners, it provides an excellent opportunity for not-so-big teams to make their mark on the continent.
After an exciting Tuesday night of football, where defending champions had to wait till the last minute to wind a winner past a dogged Wolves side, the attention has now turned to the marquee fixture of this round.
After eliminating Chelsea in the last round during a thrilling encounter, Newcastle United welcomed Arsenal at the St James Park.
On the night, it turned out to be a one-sided affair as Arsenal steamrolled Newcastle and romped home to a 4-0 victory.
Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner were in their inspiring forms last night as they marked their return from injuries with scintillating performances.
The deadlock was broken in some fortuitous c*m comical circumstances as a goal bound header for six yards out by Nicklas Bendtner crawled under Newcastle goal keeper’s body and the clearance header by Danny Williamson only hit Tim Krul and rolled back across
the goal line.
But, Arsenal didn’t seem to care if that goal came in bizarre circumstances as the young Gunners opened the floodgates after that.
With less than ten minutes played in the second half, Walcott doubled the advantage on the night with a pacy run into the box and a cool finish.
Bendtner also got himself on the score sheet with perhaps the best goal of the night when he latched on to a misguided back pass by a Newcastle defender and made his way into the box before beautifully curling the ball past Krul.
Arsenal added a fourth goal in the second half injury time when Walcott finished from close range.
It was definitely a heart break for Chris Hughton’s side as it was their fourth consecutive home defeat of the season and with it is perhaps gone their only realistic chance of a trophy this season.
Also progressing to the last 8 were West Ham United as they came from behind to beat Stoke Ciy 3-1 at Upton Park.
The much needed victory came as a morale booster to the Hammers as they are stuck in the bottom three of the Premier League.
Kenwayne Jones opened the scoring on the night after six minutes as he put the Potters in front with a simple close range finish.
It took a little while for Hammers to respond as their equalizer did not come until the 84th minute when Scott Parker headed in Pablo Berrera's pin-point cross.
Manuel Da Costa and Victor Obinna added two more goals in injury time to break the Potters' heart and make way into the last 8 of the English League Cup.
The last team to book a place in the quarter finals of the Carling cup was Aston Villa.
Villa beat Championship side, Burnley by 2 goals to 1 at Villa park with goals from Emile Heskey and Stuart Downing grabbing the win on the night.
Those were frantic last five minutes as the first goal of the game only came in the 86th minute when Heskey guided a cross from Ashley young into the net.
Burnley restored the parity three minutes later through Clark Carlisle but Stuart Downing stole the show on the night with a winner deep into injury time.
The draw for the quarter finals will take place on Saturday with Arsenal, Aston Villa and West Ham joining Manchester United, Birminham, Ipswich, West Brom and Wigan in the pot.
Tags: