<a rel="attachment wp-att-232" href="http:\/\/www.championshiptalk.com/two-remain-in-the-hunt/231/232/" title="carling_cup_logo_large.jpg"></a><div><figure class="image"><a rel="attachment wp-att-232" href="http:\/\/www.championshiptalk.com/two-remain-in-the-hunt/231/232/" title="carling_cup_logo_large.jpg"></a></figure></div>Two Championship sides remain in the hunt for the Carling Cup, Derby County thanks to an injury time penalty winner via Nathan Ellington over Stoke and Burnley 3-0 winners over Arsenal. Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are the other two clubs in the draw. The draw for the two legged semi-final will be held on Saturday December 6th on Sky Sports. Will Derby and Burnley face one another or will they have to overcome Premiership opposition for a shot at the Carling Cup and a spot in the UEFA Cup? We will find out on Saturday and the path to the Carling Cup will become somewhat clearer.

Two Remain In The Hunt - World Soccer Talk

Two Remain In The Hunt

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If you took every professional team in English football and compiled an all-time league table that calculated the number of points the clubs have earned since their existence, which teams would be at the top? You may be surprised by the findings:
<ol>
<li>Manchester United, 5559 points</li>
<li>Liverpool, 5513</li>
<li>Arsenal, 5346</li>
<li>Wolverhampton Wanderers, 5137</li>
<li>Preston North End, 5105</li>
<li>Aston Villa, 5005</li>
<li>Sheffield United, 5002</li>
<li>Sunderland, 4993</li>
<li>Everton, 4987</li>
<li>Burnley, 4979</li>
</ol>
Where do the other Premier League clubs rank?
<ul>
<li>Blackburn, 11th position</li>
<li>Bolton, 12th position</li>
<li>West Bromwich Albion, 13th position</li>
<li>Manchester City, 14th position</li>
<li>Newcastle United, 15th position</li>
<li>Chelsea, 27th position</li>
<li>Stoke, 29th position</li>
<li>Hull, 31st position</li>
<li>Middlesbrough, 34th place</li>
<li>Tottenham, 39th place</li>
<li>Fulham, 40th place</li>
<li>Portsmouth, 63rd place</li>
<li>West Ham, 64th position</li>
<li>Wigan, 91st position</li>
</ul>
Who would have guessed that clubs like Burnley, Bury, Grimsby, Barnsley and Blackpool would have a better all-time points total than Chelsea?!
How can you account for the 46 point gap between Liverpool and Manchester United? It’s simple. United were founded in 1878 as Newton Heath, while Liverpool was formed 14 years later in 1892.
What for you are some of the surprising statistics from the all-time league table?
Source: <a href="http:\/\/www.statto.com/football/stats/england/all-time-table" target="_blank">Statto</a>.

Who Are The All-Time League Leaders in English Football? - World Soccer Talk

Who Are The All-Time League Leaders in English Football?

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It has been 40 years since a side from outside the top flight of English football has won the League Cup, when Swindon beat Arsenal 3-1 way back in 1969. However the lose of Liverpool and Chelsea last night has opened the way for the clubs from the Championship to claim some major silverware.
Lower league clubs have been in the final in recent history with Birmingham the last one, pushing Liverpool all the way only to lose on penalties. The year before that Tranmere narrowly lost to Leicester. So this year could be the year that someone goes that step further and perhaps shows that despite being less prestigious than the FA Cup this competition can provide just as big an upset.
Looking through the sides left in the draw for the quarter finals the obvious favourites in the <a href="http:\/\/betting.betfair.com/football/carling-cup/">football betting</a> will be Arsenal, Manchester United and current holders Tottenham. However if the draw throws two of those three together then we could easily see the likes of Burnley, Watford or Derby reach the semi-finals at least.
Burnley will certainly fancy their chances against anyone after their victory at Chelsea and with the Clarets flying high in the league they are the ones to avoid for the Premier League sides if they don’t want to become their next cup victims.
Despite my head telling me that the winners will come from either Spurs, Arsenal or Man Utd my heart is praying for it to be one of the Championship sides left in the competition. Whilst my head is telling me that one of those three sides will be lifting the trophy at Wembley in February it is far from impossible that we won’t be seeing Paul Connolly or Jay DeMerit taking that long walk up the steps to collect the three handled trophy.
With the big clubs failing to take this competition seriously due to European or relegation concerns then this, as we head for the quarter finals, is a major opportunity to create a piece of history.
Derby and Watford both have recent Premier League experience, albeit unsuccessful, and so will know what to expect if they draw a Premier League side. As for Burnley they have already knocked out Fulham and now Chelsea so whatever the football odds say I believe there is a chance, even if it is a small, for a Championship side to win the tournament.
Chances are that one will reach the semi-finals, Wycombe being the last side to do it although it was a 100-1 shot that they would make all the way, whilst Watford narrowly missed out in 2005 to Liverpool.
So lets hope the upsets continue for the neutral, obviously if your side is still left in the competition and isn’t in the Championship you won’t be hoping for the same thing. Everyone else will be hoping for a repeat of this years FA Cup, albeit a better game to watch than that dull affair!

Will the Carling Cup have a winner from outside the top flight? - World Soccer Talk

Will the Carling Cup have a winner from outside the top flight?

After Saturday’s shocks, more David-v-Goliath matchups were on tap for Sunday. We start with Luton Town, who ignored the fact that they are 60 league places below Liverpool and forced a very deserved replay at Anfield. This was one of the games I checked out on Sunday and I felt it was an entertaining 1-1 draw. The football on display was not always the most fluid but there was plenty of hustle and passion from Luton. Both goals came off of defensive errors as John Arne Riise scored an own goal just three minutes after Peter Crouch’s 74th-minute opening goal. It was Chris Perry’s misplaced header that gave Andriy Voronin a breakaway. The Stoke goalkeeper parried the Ukrainian’s shot but the ball fell right at Crouch’s feet and he rolled it into the net.
Drew Talbot was my man of the match in this one. It was his dangerous cross that Riise turned into his own goal and he kept the Liverpool defence on their heels most of the afternoon.
The replay at Anfield on January 15th will bring in £250,000 to the Luton Town coffers as the club fights for its future. The League One outfit are currently in administration and struggling to pay the wages of their staff. They will be forced to sell off their best players should a buyer not be found.
The other game I checked out on Sunday was the Stoke City – Newcastle United tie. Stoke City forced a replay against after holding the struggling Premier League side to a draw. The game lacked quality and only came to life for spells of the second half. There were a couple of close calls either way but the defenders and goalkeepers on both sides were determined to keep the ball out of their net. Stoke will now travel to St James’ Park next Wednesday.
The draw sees more criticism and pressure heaped on Newcastle gaffer Sam Allardyce. Stoke are among the Championship promotion places, but for all their size and energy, they should not have posed such a serious threat to a mid-table Premier League team that aspires to be amongst the “big” clubs. Newcastle face an away fixture to Manchester United and then a replay with Stoke next Wednesday. It’s shaping up to be another pressurized week for Newcastle.
Fulham had to come from behind twice to force a replay with League One strugglers Bristol Rovers. Rovers, near the foot of the League One table, defended resiliently and capitalized on Fulham’s nervous start. Fulham did look better in the second half and could have won the game on a few occasions. I expect they will win the replay but will not be pleased to have an extra match on their plate.
In a less shocking result, Premier League strugglers Derby County were held to a 2-2 draw by Sheffield Wednesday. Wednesday side went two up within the first 23 minutes. Mark Beevers’ (linked in the press with a move to Everton) speculative shot was woefully mishandled by Derby keeper Lewis Price as he spilled it into the goal to gift a 1-0 lead to the visitors. 24-year-old striker Marcus Tudgay, sold to Sheffield Wednesday two years ago after five years at Pride Park, drilled home the Championship side’s second as they thrilled the 5,500 fans that had travelled with the team. Tudgay pounced on Darren Moore’s awful attempted header to his own keeper and put Wednesday up 2-0.
Cue the comeback! More poor defending, this time from Wednesday, as Kenny Miller outmaneuvered three defenders to colect a cross into the area and fire low into the corner past another former Derby man, Lee Grant. Giles Barnes drew Derby level with a lovely left-foot volley just before the interval. The second half was unremarkable by comparison to the first. Derby’s finishing was poor and Grant was a solid presence in goal. He made one particularly good stop to keep out a Gary Teale volley. Another former Ram, Deon Burton, had a goal disallowed late on. The replay of this tie will be at Hillsborough next Wednesday.
The only non-shock was Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Burnley. Arsenal largely played their “B” team though recent first-team regulars such as Eduardo, Justin Hoyte and Bacary Sagna featured for the Premier League leaders. Burnley did not roll over and capitulate, giving Arsenal a run for their money with a performance that evoked memories of their shock third-round win over Liverpool in 2005.
Kyle Lafferty’s header hit the bar for the hosts before Eduardo slotted home in the 9th minute. Robbie Blake and Chris McCann both spurned chances in front of goal in the first half. Lafferty’s afternoon came to an abrupt end in the second half. On the hour he was deemed to have made a dangerous challenge on Gilberto and referee Alan Wiley pulled out the red card without hesitation. Wiley’s angle on the play was not great and the replays showed that he got the decision wrong. It may have been beneficial for Wiley to have consulted the assistant on the opposite side for his opinion. In any event, a red was very harsh and did change the face of the game. To their credit, Burnley poured forward with even more purpose and tried to find an equalizer. However, Eduardo was at the heart of the second goal as well, playing a perfectly weighted through ball for Bendtner. He rounded Kiraly and finished the game off as a contest with 15 minutes left on the clock.

Road to Wembley: FA Cup 3rd Round Sunday Recap - World Soccer Talk

Road to Wembley: FA Cup 3rd Round Sunday Recap

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