Football League Cup 2006-07

The Carling Cup 2006-07 was the 47th staging of the Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs. The competition name reflects a sponsorship deal with lager brand Carling.

The competition began in August 2006 and ended with the final on February 25, 2007. The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff hosted the final match, as it has done since 2001 (the reconstruction of Wembley Stadium could not be completed in time to host the final).

The winners were Chelsea, beating Arsenal in the final 2-1 thanks to two goals by Didier Drogba.

Format

The competition consists of five single elimination rounds (taking place only on week-nights) before a two-legged semi-final and then a final match at a neutral venue. The venue for each fixture in round one to the finals will not be neutral. It will be the home ground of one of the two clubs in each fixture, and will be decided as part of the draw for each round.

There are no replays in the competition. If necessary, extra-time and penalties will decide each tie's winners on the night.

Early rounds

First Round

The 72 Football League clubs compete from the first round, which is divided into North and South sections. Each section is divided equally into a pot of seeded clubs and a pot of unseeded clubs. Clubs' rankings depend upon their finishing position in the 2005-06 season. Therefore, the clubs relegated from the Premier League in 2006; Sunderland (North), Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion (South) are the top seeds, and the clubs newly-promoted to the Football League — Accrington Stanley and Hereford United — are bottom seeds in north and south sections respectively.

*At 12:00 BST on 21 June2006, seeded clubs and unseeded clubs were paired off to create the first round draw.
*The small numbers represent the seeding.
*Ties are shown in order of the draw.

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Third Round

Round 3 was drawn on 23 September from the 24 remaining clubs and the eight Premier League clubs in European competitions. The ties were played the week of 23 October:

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Fourth Round

The Fourth Round draw was made on 25 October 2006.

footballbox
date=2006-11-08
team1=Birmingham City
score=0 – 1
report=
team2=Liverpool
goals1=
goals2=Agger goal|45
stadium=St Andrews, Birmingham
attendance=23,061
referee=Howard Webb (Sheffield & Hallamshire) ----footballbox
date=2006-11-08
team1=Chelsea
score=4 – 0
report=
team2=Aston Villa
goals1=Lampard goal|32
Shevchenko goal|65
Essien goal|82
Drogba goal|84
goals2=
stadium=Stamford Bridge, London
attendance=41,516
referee=Mark Halsey (Lancashire) ----footballbox
date=2006-11-07
team1=Chesterfield
score=3 – 3 (a.e.t.)
3 – 4p
report=
team2=Charlton Athletic
goals1=Larkin goal|2
Folan goal|47
Allison goal|120
goals2=Hasselbaink goal|40 goal|93
D. Bent goal|73
stadium=Saltergate, Chesterfield
attendance=7,000
referee=Mike Riley (West Yorkshire) ----footballbox
date=2006-11-08
team1=Everton
score=0 – 1
report=
team2=Arsenal
goals1=
goals2=Adebayor goal|85
stadium=Goodison Park, Liverpool
attendance=
referee=Graham Poll (Hertfordshire) ----footballbox
date=2006-11-07
team1=Notts County
score=0 – 1
report=
team2=Wycombe Wanderers
goals1=
goals2=Easter goal|49
stadium=Meadow Lane, Nottingham
attendance=7,395
referee=Nigel Miller (County Durham) ----footballbox
date=2006-11-07
team1=Southend United
score=1 – 0
report=
team2=Manchester United
goals1=Eastwood goal|27
goals2=
stadium=Roots Hall, Southend-on-Sea
attendance=11,532
referee=Uriah Rennie (Sheffield & Hallamshire) ----footballbox
date=2006-11-08
team1=Tottenham Hotspur
score=3 – 1 (a.e.t.)
report=
team2=Port Vale
goals1=Huddlestone goal|80 goal|99
Defoe goal|107
goals2=Constantine goal|64
stadium=White Hart Lane, London
attendance=34,560
referee=Steve Bennett (Kent) ----footballbox
date=2006-11-07
team1=Watford
score=2 – 2 (a.e.t.)
4 – 5p
report=
team2=Newcastle United
goals1=Francis goal|69
Shittu goal|108
goals2=Sibierski goal|3
Parker goal|116
stadium=Vicarage Road, Watford
attendance=16,791
referee=Lee Mason (Lancashire)

Later rounds

Quarter-finals

The quarter-final draw was made on 11 November 2006 at 12:00 GMT.

footballbox
date=2006-12-19
team1=Charlton Athletic
score=0 – 1
report=
team2=Wycombe Wanderers
goals1=
goals2=Easter goal|35
stadium=The Valley, London
attendance=18,940
referee=Mark Clattenburg (County Durham) ----footballbox
date=2007-01-09
team1=Liverpool
score=3 – 6
report=
team2=Arsenal
goals1=Fowler goal|33
Gerrard goal|68
Hyypiä goal|80
goals2=Aliadière goal|27
Baptista goal|40 goal|45+2 goal|60 goal|84
Song goal|45
stadium=Anfield, Liverpool
attendance=42,614
referee=Martin Atkinson (West Yorkshire) ----footballbox
date=2006-12-20
team1=Newcastle United
score=0 – 1
report=
team2=Chelsea
goals1=
goals2=Drogba goal|79
stadium=St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne
attendance=37,406
referee=Chris Foy (Merseyside) ----footballbox
date=2006-12-20
team1=Tottenham Hotspur
score=1 – 0 (a.e.t.)
report=
team2=Southend United
goals1=Defoe goal|115
goals2=
stadium=White Hart Lane, London
attendance=35,811
referee=Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)

emi-finals

The semi-final draw was made on 23 December 2006 at 12:00 GMT. Unlike the other rounds, the semi-final ties were played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home.

First leg

footballbox
date=2007-01-10
team1=Wycombe Wanderers
score=1 – 1
report=
team2=Chelsea
goals1=Easter goal|77
goals2=Bridge goal|36
stadium=Adams Park, High Wycombe
attendance=9,771
referee=Steve Bennett (Kent) ----footballbox
date=2007-01-24
team1=Tottenham Hotspur
score=2 – 2
report=
team2=Arsenal
goals1=Berbatov goal|12
Baptista goal|20|o.g.
goals2=Baptista goal|64 goal|77
stadium=White Hart Lane, London
attendance=35,485
referee=Graham Poll (Hertfordshire)

econd leg

footballbox
date=2007-01-23
team1=Chelsea
score=4 – 0
report=
team2=Wycombe Wanderers
goals1=Shevchenko goal|22 goal|43
Lampard goal|69 goal|90
goals2=
stadium=Stamford Bridge, London
attendance=41,591
referee=Mike Dean (Cheshire) "Chelsea won 5–1 on aggregate."----footballbox
date=2007-01-31
team1=Arsenal
score=3 – 1 (a.e.t.)
report=
team2=Tottenham Hotspur
goals1=Adebayor goal|77
Aliadière goal|105
Chimbonda goal|113|o.g.
goals2=Mido goal|85
stadium=Emirates Stadium, London
attendance=59,872
referee=Alan Wiley (Staffordshire) "Arsenal won 5–3 on aggregate."

Final

footballbox
date=2007-02-25
time=15:00
team1=Arsenal
score=1 – 2
report= [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/6371613.stm (Report)]
team2=Chelsea
goals1=Walcott goal|12
goals2=Drogba goal|20 goal|84
stadium=Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
attendance=70,073
referee=Howard Webb (Sheffield & Hallamshire)

ee also

*Football League Cup

External links

* [http://www.carlingcup.co.uk Official Carling Cup website]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/default.stm Carling Cup] at bbc.co.uk
* [http://www.soccerbase.com/cup2.sd?competitionid=60 Results service] at soccerbase.com