2007–08 Football League Cup Explained

Football League Cup
Year:2007–08
Other Titles:Carling Cup, League Cup
Country:
Num Teams:92
Defending Champions:Chelsea
Champions:Tottenham Hotspur
Count:4
Runner-Up:Chelsea
Top Goal Scorer:Eduardo
Frank Lampard
Michael Mifsud
(4 goals)
Prevseason:2006–07
Nextseason:2008–09

The 2007–08 Football League Cup (known as the Carling Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 48th staging of the Football League Cup, a knock-out competition for the top 92 football clubs played in English football league system. The winners qualified for the first round of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, if not already qualified for European competitions.

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 its major renovation completed.

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 started in the first round, which was divided into North and South sections. Each section was divided equally into a pot of seeded clubs and a pot of unseeded clubs. Clubs' rankings depended 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) were the top seeds, and the clubs newly promoted to the Football League, Morecambe and Dagenham & Redbridge, were bottom seeds in north and south sections respectively.

North
Tie noHome teamScore1Away teamAttendance
1Wolverhampton Wanderers2–1Bradford City9,625
2Grimsby Town0–0Burnley2,431
1–1 after extra time – Burnley won 4–2 on penalties
3Rochdale1–1Stoke City2,369
2–2 after extra time – Rochdale won 4–2 on penalties
4Scunthorpe United1–2Hartlepool United2,965
5Port Vale1–1Wrexham2,916
After extra time – Wrexham won 5–3 on penalties
6Crewe Alexandra0–3Hull City2,862
7Chester City0–0Nottingham Forest2,720
After extra time – Nottingham Forest won 4–2 on penalties
8Sheffield United3–1Chesterfield11,170
9Rotherham United1–3Sheffield Wednesday6,416
10Barnsley2–1Darlington3,780
11Bury0–1Carlisle United2,213
12Doncaster Rovers4–1Lincoln City5,084
13Preston North End1–2Morecambe7,703
14Stockport County1–0Tranmere Rovers3,944
15Accrington Stanley0–1Leicester City2,029
16Macclesfield Town0–1Leeds United3,422
17Oldham Athletic4–1Mansfield Town3,155
18Blackpool1–0Huddersfield Town6,395
South
Tie noHome teamScore1Away teamAttendance
1Watford3–0Gillingham8,166
2Swindon Town0–2Charlton Athletic6,175
3Milton Keynes Dons2–2Ipswich Town7,496
3–3 after extra time – Milton Keynes Dons won 5–3 on penalties
4Southend United1–1Cheltenham Town3,084
Southend United won 4–1 after extra time
5Norwich City5–2Barnet13,971
6Shrewsbury Town0–0Colchester United3,069
Shrewsbury Town won 1–0 after extra time
7Cardiff City0–0Brighton & Hove Albion3,726
Cardiff City won 1–0 after extra time
8Swansea City2–0Walsall6,943
9Brentford0–3Bristol City2,213
10Bristol Rovers1–1Crystal Palace5,566
After extra time – Bristol Rovers won 4–1 on penalties
11West Bromwich Albion1–0AFC Bournemouth10,250
12Peterborough United2–1Southampton4,087
13Hereford United4–1Yeovil Town2,085
14Queens Park Rangers1–2Leyton Orient5,260
15Northampton Town2–0Millwall1,735
16Dagenham & Redbridge1–2Luton Town1,754
17Plymouth Argyle2–1Wycombe Wanderers5,474
18Coventry City3–0Notts County6,735

1 Score after 90 minutes

Second round

The 36 winners from the first round joined the 12 Premier League clubs not participating in European competitions in the second round.

Tie noHome teamScore1Away teamAttendance
1Plymouth Argyle2–0Doncaster Rovers5,133
2Southend United2–0Watford5,554
3Nottingham ForestA–ALeicester City
Original match abandoned due to serious player illness; rematch took place on 18 September.
RematchNottingham Forest22–3Leicester City15,519
4Wigan Athletic0–1Hull City5,440
5Birmingham City2–1Hereford United10,185
6Carlisle United0–2Coventry City5,744
7Bristol Rovers1–2West Ham United10,831
8Derby County1–1Blackpool8,658
2–2 after extra time – Blackpool won 7–6 on penalties
9Rochdale1–1Norwich City2,990
After extra time – Norwich won 4–3 on penalties
10Portsmouth3–0Leeds United8,502
11Cardiff City1–0Leyton Orient6,150
12Milton Keynes Dons2–2Sheffield United7,943
Sheffield United won 3–2 after extra time
13Burnley3–0Oldham Athletic7,317
14Swansea City0–0Reading12,027
Reading won 1–0 after extra time
15Peterborough United0–2West Bromwich Albion4,917
16Shrewsbury Town0–1Fulham6,223
17Wolverhampton Wanderers1–1Morecambe11,296
Morecambe won 3–1 after extra time
18Middlesbrough2–0Northampton Town11,686
19Sheffield Wednesday1–1Hartlepool United8,751
Sheffield Wednesday won 2–1 after extra time
20Luton Town3–0Sunderland4,401
21Wrexham0–5Aston Villa8,221
22Charlton Athletic4–3Stockport County8,022
23Newcastle United2–0Barnsley30,523
24Bristol City1–2Manchester City19,941
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 goalkeeper Paul Smith to dribble up the pitch uncontested and score straight from the kick-off.[1]

Third round

The 24 winners from the second round joined the eight Premier League clubs participating in European competitions in the third round. The draw was made on 1 September.[2] Matches were played on 25 September and 26 September.

Tie noHome teamScore1Away teamAttendance
1Blackburn Rovers3–0Birmingham City9,205
2Reading2–4Liverpool23,563
3Manchester United0–2Coventry City74,055
4Tottenham Hotspur2–0Middlesbrough32,280
5Hull City0–4Chelsea23,543
6Blackpool1–1Southend United5,022
Blackpool won 2–1 after extra time
7West Ham United1–0Plymouth Argyle25,774
8Arsenal2–0Newcastle United60,004
9Luton Town1–1Charlton Athletic4,534
Luton Town won 3–1 after extra time
10Manchester City1–0Norwich City20,938
11Sheffield United5–0Morecambe8,854
12Sheffield Wednesday0–3Everton16,463
13Fulham1–1Bolton Wanderers10,500
Bolton Wanderers won 2–1 after extra time
14Burnley0–1Portsmouth8,202
15Aston Villa0–1Leicester City25,956
16West Bromwich Albion2–4Cardiff City14,085
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.

Tie noHome teamScore1Away teamAttendance
1Luton Town0–0Everton8,944
Everton won 1–0 after extra time
2Portsmouth1–2Blackburn Rovers11,788
3Chelsea4–3Leicester City40,037
4Sheffield United0–3Arsenal16,971
5Tottenham Hotspur2–0Blackpool32,196
6Bolton Wanderers0–1Manchester City15,510
7Coventry City1–2West Ham United23,968
8Liverpool2–1Cardiff City41,780
1 Score after 90 minutes

Fifth round

The draw for the fifth round was made on 3 November 2007. Matches were played in the week beginning 17 December 2007, with the exception of the match between West Ham United and Everton, which was played on 12 December due to Everton's commitments in the UEFA Cup.

------------

Semi-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

----

Second leg

Chelsea won 3–1 on aggregate----Tottenham won 6–2 on aggregate

Final

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

Notes and References

  1. News: Forest given 'free goal' by Foxes . BBC Sport . BBC . 18 September 2007 . 25 March 2013 .
  2. News: City to face West Brom in the cup . BBC Sport. 1 September 2007 . 24 January 2008 .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "2007–08 Football League Cup".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.