2007–08 Football League Cup
Football tournament season
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.
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.
North
Tie no
Home team
Score1
Away team
Attendance
1
Wolverhampton Wanderers
2–1
Bradford City
9,625
2
Grimsby Town
0–0
Burnley
2,431
1–1 after extra time – Burnley won 4–2 on penalties
3
Rochdale
1–1
Stoke City
2,369
2–2 after extra time – Rochdale won 4–2 on penalties
4
Scunthorpe United
1–2
Hartlepool United
2,965
5
Port Vale
1–1
Wrexham
2,916
After extra time – Wrexham won 5–3 on penalties
6
Crewe Alexandra
0–3
Hull City
2,862
7
Chester City
0–0
Nottingham Forest
2,720
After extra time – Nottingham Forest won 4–2 on penalties
8
Sheffield United
3–1
Chesterfield
11,170
9
Rotherham United
1–3
Sheffield Wednesday
6,416
10
Barnsley
2–1
Darlington
3,780
11
Bury
0–1
Carlisle United
2,213
12
Doncaster Rovers
4–1
Lincoln City
5,084
13
Preston North End
1–2
Morecambe
7,703
14
Stockport County
1–0
Tranmere Rovers
3,944
15
Accrington Stanley
0–1
Leicester City
2,029
16
Macclesfield Town
0–1
Leeds United
3,422
17
Oldham Athletic
4–1
Mansfield Town
3,155
18
Blackpool
1–0
Huddersfield Town
6,395
South
Tie no
Home team
Score1
Away team
Attendance
1
Watford
3–0
Gillingham
8,166
2
Swindon Town
0–2
Charlton Athletic
6,175
3
Milton Keynes Dons
2–2
Ipswich Town
7,496
3–3 after extra time – Milton Keynes Dons won 5–3 on penalties
4
Southend United
1–1
Cheltenham Town
3,084
Southend United won 4–1 after extra time
5
Norwich City
5–2
Barnet
13,971
6
Shrewsbury Town
0–0
Colchester United
3,069
Shrewsbury Town won 1–0 after extra time
7
Cardiff City
0–0
Brighton & Hove Albion
3,726
Cardiff City won 1–0 after extra time
8
Swansea City
2–0
Walsall
6,943
9
Brentford
0–3
Bristol City
2,213
10
Bristol Rovers
1–1
Crystal Palace
5,566
After extra time – Bristol Rovers won 4–1 on penalties
11
West Bromwich Albion
1–0
AFC Bournemouth
10,250
12
Peterborough United
2–1
Southampton
4,087
13
Hereford United
4–1
Yeovil Town
2,085
14
Queens Park Rangers
1–2
Leyton Orient
5,260
15
Northampton Town
2–0
Millwall
1,735
16
Dagenham & Redbridge
1–2
Luton Town
1,754
17
Plymouth Argyle
2–1
Wycombe Wanderers
5,474
18
Coventry City
3–0
Notts County
6,735
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.
Round two was drawn on 16 August.
Matches occurred during the week commencing 28 August.
Extra time played when the scores were level after 90 minutes.
Tie no
Home team
Score1
Away team
Attendance
1
Plymouth Argyle
2–0
Doncaster Rovers
5,133
2
Southend United
2–0
Watford
5,554
3
Nottingham Forest
A–A
Leicester City
Original match abandoned due to serious player illness; rematch took place on 18 September.
Rematch
Nottingham Forest 2
2–3
Leicester City
15,519
4
Wigan Athletic
0–1
Hull City
5,440
5
Birmingham City
2–1
Hereford United
10,185
6
Carlisle United
0–2
Coventry City
5,744
7
Bristol Rovers
1–2
West Ham United
10,831
8
Derby County
1–1
Blackpool
8,658
2–2 after extra time – Blackpool won 7–6 on penalties
9
Rochdale
1–1
Norwich City
2,990
After extra time – Norwich won 4–3 on penalties
10
Portsmouth
3–0
Leeds United
8,502
11
Cardiff City
1–0
Leyton Orient
6,150
12
Milton Keynes Dons
2–2
Sheffield United
7,943
Sheffield United won 3–2 after extra time
13
Burnley
3–0
Oldham Athletic
7,317
14
Swansea City
0–0
Reading
12,027
Reading won 1–0 after extra time
15
Peterborough United
0–2
West Bromwich Albion
4,917
16
Shrewsbury Town
0–1
Fulham
6,223
17
Wolverhampton Wanderers
1–1
Morecambe
11,296
Morecambe won 3–1 after extra time
18
Middlesbrough
2–0
Northampton Town
11,686
19
Sheffield Wednesday
1–1
Hartlepool United
8,751
Sheffield Wednesday won 2–1 after extra time
20
Luton Town
3–0
Sunderland
4,401
21
Wrexham
0–5
Aston Villa
8,221
22
Charlton Athletic
4–3
Stockport County
8,022
23
Newcastle United
2–0
Barnsley
30,523
24
Bristol City
1–2
Manchester City
19,941
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 no
Home team
Score1
Away team
Attendance
1
Blackburn Rovers
3–0
Birmingham City
9,205
2
Reading
2–4
Liverpool
23,563
3
Manchester United
0–2
Coventry City
74,055
4
Tottenham Hotspur
2–0
Middlesbrough
32,280
5
Hull City
0–4
Chelsea
23,543
6
Blackpool
1–1
Southend United
5,022
Blackpool won 2–1 after extra time
7
West Ham United
1–0
Plymouth Argyle
25,774
8
Arsenal
2–0
Newcastle United
60,004
9
Luton Town
1–1
Charlton Athletic
4,534
Luton Town won 3–1 after extra time
10
Manchester City
1–0
Norwich City
20,938
11
Sheffield United
5–0
Morecambe
8,854
12
Sheffield Wednesday
0–3
Everton
16,463
13
Fulham
1–1
Bolton Wanderers
10,500
Bolton Wanderers won 2–1 after extra time
14
Burnley
0–1
Portsmouth
8,202
15
Aston Villa
0–1
Leicester City
25,956
16
West Bromwich Albion
2–4
Cardiff City
14,085
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.
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 .
References
National teams
League competitions
Level 1 Levels 2–4 Levels 5–6 Levels 7–8 Levels 9–10
Combined Counties League (Premier , One )
Eastern Counties League (Premier , One )
Essex Senior League (level 9 only )
Hellenic League (Premier , One East , One West )
Kent League (level 9 only )
Midland Alliance (level 9 only )
Midland Football Combination (level 10 only )
North West Counties League (One , Two )
Northern Counties East League (Premier , One )
Northern League (One , Two )
South West Peninsula League (level 10 only )
Spartan South Midlands League (Premier , One )
Sussex County League (One , Two )
United Counties League (Premier , One )
Wessex League (Premier , One )
West Midlands (Regional) League (level 10 only )
Western League (Premier , One )
Cup competitions
FA cups Football League cups
Other
Domestic leagues Domestic cups League cups UEFA competitions