2007–08 Football League Cup

2007–08 Football League Cup

Carling Cup, League Cup
Tottenham and Chelsea players lined up before the final
Tournament details
Country	England  Wales
Teams	92
Defending champions	Chelsea
Final positions
Champions	Tottenham Hotspur (4th title)
Runner-up	Chelsea
Tournament statistics
Top goal scorer(s)	Eduardo Frank Lampard Michael Mifsud (4 goals)
← 2006–07 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.

• 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.

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.

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.

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.

12 December 2007

19:45

West Ham United	1–2	Everton
Cole 12'		Osman 40' Yakubu 88'

Boleyn Ground, London

Attendance: 28,777

Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)

18 December 2007

19:45

Manchester City	0–2	Tottenham Hotspur
	Report	Defoe 5' Malbranque 82'

City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester

Attendance: 38,564

Referee: Steve Bennett (Kent)

19 December 2007

19:45

Chelsea	2–0	Liverpool
Lampard 59' Shevchenko 90'	Report

Stamford Bridge, London

Attendance: 41,366

Referee: Martin Atkinson (West Yorkshire)

18 December 2007

20:00

Blackburn Rovers	2–3 (a.e.t.)	Arsenal
Santa Cruz 42', 60'		Diaby 6' Eduardo 29', 104'

Ewood Park, Blackburn

Attendance: 16,207

Referee: Mike Riley (West Yorkshire)

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

8 January 2008

19:45

Chelsea	2–1	Everton
Wright-Phillips 26' Lescott 90+2' (o.g.)		Yakubu 64'

Stamford Bridge, London

Attendance: 41,178

Referee: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire)

9 January 2008

19:45

Arsenal	1–1	Tottenham Hotspur
Walcott 79'	Report	Jenas 37'

Emirates Stadium, London

Attendance: 53,136

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)

Second leg

23 January 2008

20:00

Everton	0–1	Chelsea
		J. Cole 69'

Goodison Park, Liverpool

Attendance: 37,086

Referee: Steve Bennett (Kent)

Chelsea won 3–1 on aggregate

22 January 2008

20:00

Tottenham Hotspur	5–1	Arsenal
Jenas 3' Bendtner 27' (o.g.) Keane 48' Lennon 60' Malbranque 90+4'	Report	Adebayor 70'

White Hart Lane, London

Attendance: 35,979

Referee: Howard Webb (Sheffield & Hallamshire)

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.

24 February 2008

15:00

Chelsea	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Tottenham Hotspur
Drogba 39'	(Report)	Berbatov 70' (pen.) Woodgate 94'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 87,660

Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Football League Cup 2007-2008.