Football League Cup 2007–08

The Carling Cup 2007–08 was the 48th 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 on 13 August 2007, and ended with the final on 24 February 2008. Wembley Stadium in London hosted the final match for the first time since 2000.

The tournament was won by Tottenham Hotspur, who beat holders Chelsea 2–1 in the final, thanks to goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Jonathan Woodgate. Didier Drogba scored the opener for Chelsea.

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 2006–07 season. Therefore, the clubs relegated from the Premier League in 2007; Watford, Charlton Athletic (south) and Sheffield United (north) are the top seeds, and the clubs newly-promoted to the Football League, Morecambe and Dagenham & Redbridge, are bottom seeds in north and south sections respectively.

*On 13 June 2007 seeded clubs and unseeded clubs were paired off to create the first round draw.
*Matches occurred during the week commencing 13 August 2007.
*Extra time played when the scores were level after 90 minutes.

¹ Score after 90 minutes
² As Nottingham Forest were leading 1-0 at the time of the abandonment of the first meeting, they were given a "free goal" by Leicester City, who allowed Forest keeper Paul Smith to dribble up the pitch uncontested and score straight from the kick-off. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/nottm_forest/7001796.stm Forest given "free goal" by Foxes] - bbc.co.uk]

Third Round

The 24 winners from the Second Round joined the eight Premier League clubs participating in European competition in Round Three. The draw was made on 1 September. [cite news |title=City to face West Brom in the cup |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/cardiff_city/6973960.stm |publisher=BBC Sport |date=2007-09-01 |accessdate=2008-01-24 ] Matches were played on 25 September and 26 September.

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Fourth Round

The draw for the Fourth Round was made on 29 September 2007 and matches were played in the week commencing 29 October.

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was made on 3 November 2007. Matches were played in the week beginning 17 December 2007, with the exception of West Ham United vs Everton, which was played on 12 December due to Everton's European commitments.

footballbox
date=2007-12-12
time=19:45
team1=West Ham United
score=1 – 2
report=
team2=Everton
goals1=Cole goal|12
goals2=Osman goal|40
Yakubu goal|88
stadium=Boleyn Ground, London
attendance=28,777
referee=Mark Halsey (Lancashire) ----footballbox
date=2007-12-18
time=19:45
team1=Manchester City
score=0 – 2
report=
team2=Tottenham Hotspur
goals1=
goals2=Defoe goal|5
Malbranque goal|82
stadium=City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester
attendance=38,564
referee=Steve Bennett (Kent) ----footballbox
date=2007-12-19
time=19:45
team1=Chelsea
score=2 – 0
report=
team2=Liverpool
goals1=Lampard goal|59
Shevchenko goal|90
goals2=
stadium=Stamford Bridge, London
attendance=41,366
referee=Martin Atkinson (West Yorkshire) ----footballbox
date=2007-12-18
time=20:00
team1=Blackburn Rovers
score=2 – 3
(a.e.t.)
report=
team2=Arsenal
goals1=Santa Cruz goal|42 goal|60
goals2=Diaby goal|6
Eduardo goal|29 goal|104
stadium=Ewood Park, Blackburn
attendance=16,207
referee=Mike Riley (West Yorkshire)

emi-finals

The semi-final draw was made on 19 December 2007 at 22:00 GMT. Unlike the other rounds, the semi-final ties were played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The ties were played in the weeks beginning 9 January and 21 January 2008.

First leg

footballbox
date=2008-01-08
time=19:45
team1=Chelsea
score=2 – 1
report=
team2=Everton
goals1=Wright-Phillips goal|26
Lescott goal|90+2|o.g.
goals2=Yakubu goal|64
stadium=Stamford Bridge, London
attendance=41,178
referee=Peter Walton (Northamptonshire) ----footballbox
date=2008-01-09
time=19:45
team1=Arsenal
score=1 – 1
report=
team2=Tottenham Hotspur
goals1=Walcott goal|79
goals2=Jenas goal|37
stadium=Emirates Stadium, London
attendance=53,136
referee=Mike Dean (Wirral)

econd leg

footballbox
date=2008-01-23
time=20:00
team1=Everton
score=0 – 1
report=
team2=Chelsea
goals1=
goals2=J. Cole goal|69
stadium=Goodison Park, Liverpool
attendance=37,086
referee=Steve Bennett (Kent) "Chelsea win 3–1 on aggregate"----footballbox
date=2008-01-22
time=20:00
team1=Tottenham Hotspur
score=5 – 1
report=
team2=Arsenal
goals1=Jenas goal|3
Bendtner goal|27|o.g.
Keane goal|48
Lennon goal|60
Malbranque goal|90+4
goals2=Adebayor goal|70
stadium=White Hart Lane, London
attendance=35,979
referee=Howard Webb (Sheffield & Hallamshire) "Tottenham win 6–2 on aggregate"

Final

The 2008 Carling Cup Final was played on 24 February 2008 and was the first League Cup Final to be played at Wembley Stadium since 2000.

footballbox
date=2008-02-24
time=15:00
team1=Chelsea
score=1 – 2
(a.e.t.)
report= [http://www.carlingcup.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/0,,11995~1249174,00.html (Report)]
team2=Tottenham Hotspur
goals2=Berbatov goal|70|pen.
Woodgate goal|94
goals1=Drogba goal|39
stadium=Wembley Stadium, London
attendance=87,660
referee=Mark Halsey (Lancashire)

References

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://football.uk.reuters.com/leaguecup/ League Cup news, match reports and pictures] on Reuters.co.uk