Liverpool

Starting from the semi-finals, the Carling Cup will use a home-away system. The second leg match will be held at Anfield Stadium, on January 25, 2012.

Liverpool’s victory was determined by a penalty kick made by Steven Gerrard in the 13th minute of the game, following a foul by Stefan Savic to Daniel Agger. Gerrard fired the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal. Goalkeeper Joe Hart moved to the right, but not quick enough to block Gerrard’s shot.

In general, the match was quite open from the beginning, but not many great chances were created. A number of good chances failed to produce goals, due to the fine performance of Hart and Pepe Reina.

In the fourth and tenth minute, for example, Hart managed to block shots made by  Andy Carroll and Gerrard. For City, they got a golden chance through Samir Nasri in the 43rd minute, which was stopped in the hands of Reina.

In the second half, City were able to threat the Liverpool goal more frequently. However, nothing could beat Reina.

In the 60th minute, Micah Richards header a corner kick from Samir Nasri, but it can be anticipated by Reina. Six minutes later, it was Aguero’s turn who saw his shot blocked by Reina.

During the game, City had 58 percent  of the ball possession and created six shots on target  from 14 efforts. As for Liverpool they only released four accurate shots from five efforts.

Manchester City: Joe Hart; Joleon Lescott, Gael Clichy, Micah Richards, Stefan Savic; Gareth Barry, Nigel De Jong (Aleksandar Kolarov 72), James Milner, Adam Johnson (Edin Dzeko 66); Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli (Samir Nasri 40 ).

Liverpool: Pepe Reina; Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Martin Kelly, Steven Gerrard, Stewart Downing (Jose Enrique 59), Jay Spearing (Charlie Adam 23), Jordan Henderson, Craig Bellamy (Jamie Carragher 79), Andy Carroll.

Referee: Lee Mason

Walcott revealed in previous years, they were rarely able to play together because of injury problems.

“For me, Robin is one of the best strikers in the world today,” said Walcott.

“We are delighted to play together. In recent years, he had an injury, I also had my own injuries and we never played together in a long periods.”

“But now you can see the signs, especially this year, that we already know each other and know where one of us will be on the pitch. It makes my job easier, everyone’s job easier, and he is an outstanding leader . “

The Gunners were saved by a quickfire double salvo from Andrey Arshavin and Park Ju-young as they continued their unbeaten League Cup run at the Emirates Stadium.

Wenger’s side had received a scare at the start of the second half when Bolton took the lead through former Arsenal midfielder Fabrice Muamba.

However, the north Londoners responded rapidly through goals from Arshavin and Park to the delight of boss Wenger.

“The first half I believe we had the chances [to score] but in the second half we were caught straight away in losing the ball in our own half,” said the Frenchman, whose side face Chelsea this weekend.

“They scored and from then on we were tested as the more experienced players took charge of the game, like Park, Arshavin and [Yossi] Benayoun. They made the difference.

“I have to congratulate the team as we had two young full-backs who are usually central players that played out of position.

“In midfield we were very young and we showed good spirit against a good Bolton side.

“When we were 2-1 up in the last 20 minutes, our legs had gone a little bit and we had to hang on, relying on a bit of luck because any players had not played at that level at that intensity.

“What was vital for us was not to go into extra-time.”

This evening’s match also heralded the return of Thomas Vermaelen after a two-month injury layoff.

The Belgium international has been out with an Achilles injury but started at the Emirates Stadium, playing 84 minutes before coming off with a “tight calf”.

“He did very well but he had to come off for a calf problem,” Wenger said. “I hope it is not too bad.

“He will be a bit short for Saturday. I do not know yet what has happened.

“We will have to test him tomorrow but it did not look too bad.

“He has been out for a long time and only had one training session yesterday with the team.

“I didn’t expect a game of that intensity because it was a really tough game for a centre-back tonight as they put us under pressure in the second half.”

He added: “I don’t think it is a calf strain, I think it is just a tight calf because he has not played 90 minutes for three months.

“He wanted to come off. In fairness, I did not want to take him off because I thought it was stupid now with four minutes to go in case we concede a goal.

“He was adamant he could not go on so I hope it is not too bad.”

While Arsenal secured progression, they had to withstand a barrage of Bolton pressure to hold out for victory.

Trotters manager Owen Coyle felt disappointed with the result after the match but was proud of his side’s effort in north London.

“Arsenal scored two goals from their two shots on target,” he said. “They never had another shot on target.

“We scored a very good goal to put us in front and looked to be the team in the ascendancy.

“Then, from my end, the disappointing thing is as good as Arsenal’s finishes were, they could have been avoided.

“I thought Arshavin should have been closed down and we paid a heavy cost for that.

“Then we gave the ball away cheaply and got punished by Park with a sublime finish.

“From that moment on it was waves of attacks and not just that but clear goalscoring opportunities.

“We should have buried them, we never did and now we’re out of the cup because of it.”  – teamtalk

Miyaichi, who came on in the 73rd minute with Arsenal nursing a one-goal lead, still managed to impress the Gunners faithful in the short period of time with a charming display on both sides of the pitch.

The Japanese teenager did well to deny Gary Cahill from pulling Bolton even during stoppage time, leaving Wenger impressed by his defensive efforts.

“Ryo is a guy with heart. I don’t think he played long enough and we were in a position where we had to defend more than we could attack,” Wenger told the club’s official website.

“But you could see straight away that his heart, his determination and his pace in the game are big assets.”

Wenger alluded to potential Premier League appearances in December for his Japanese talent following an autumn spent mostly recovering from injury.

“He just had one day training yesterday with the group because he was injured. He worked a lot with the fitness coach,” Wenger said.

When asked when Miyaichi would be ready, the French manager replied: “I believe he will be ready at Christmas.”

Miyaichi joined Arsenal on a professional contract in January 2011 and was loaned out to Feyenoord for half a season. – Dan Orlowitz/Goal

Joe Mason scored the only goal of the game before the interval as the Bluebirds saw off the challenge of Championship rivals Burnley in the fourth round clash.

The encounter at the Cardiff City Stadium may not live long in the memory but Mackay found plenty of positives from the victory.

Mackay said: “A 1-0 win, a clean sheet, no injuries and through to the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup is a good night.

“We were playing against a good Championship team tonight who have game-changing players.

“They had two centre forwards, one who has cost an awful lot of money and another at some point who will cost a lot of money.

“We have to give due respect to the team we played. I was delighted with the way we passed the ball, we created three great chances in the first half and didn’t allow them a shot in the second half.”

In-form forward Mason, who opened his Bluebirds account against Barnsley last weekend, proved the difference as his second goal in four days after 41 minutes settled this all-Championship tie.

The Irishman cost just £250,000 from Plymouth in the summer and the talented youngster showed a maturity beyond his 20 years to book a place in the last eight.

Mackay said: “It was a mature finish from Joe. His movement and game intelligence belied his experience. It was a beautiful goal.

“The boy has great potential but we have to work hard to keep nurturing him.

“He has good people in terms of players and coaches around him and he’s level headed. If he keeps working hard he will only get better.”

Burnley manager Eddie Howe said: “It’s disappointing to lose the game. We started the game really well and tested their goalkeeper early on. It was a positive start and on another day we could have scored a couple of goals.

“We also finished the game well and applied a lot of pressure with good possession, but we didn’t work their keeper enough or hurt them in the second half.” – skysports

Dalglish’s men start their domestic cup campaign away at St James’ Park and the boss will hope to avoid another giant-killing, as they were knocked out of the competition by Northampton Town last season.

In the other ties, League Two Crawley Town could host Premier League outfit Wigan Athletic if they get past Crystal Palace – the fixture having been postponed due to the recent riots around the country.

Elsewhere in the Premier League, Phil Jagielka has the chance to knock out his old side as Everton face Sheffield United at Goodison Park whilst Hereford travel to Aston Villa.

Newcastle will hope to avoid an embarrassing defeat of their own after being knocked out of the FA Cup by Stevenage last season and are away to Scunthorpe.

Sunderland travel to Brighton, whilst Swansea play at Shrewsbury and West Brom at Bournemouth.

Wolves go to Sixfields hoping that they aren’t the second Premier League club knocked out of the competition in successive campaigns as they play Northampton Town.

There are home ties for Blackburn, Norwich, Bolton and QPR as they play Sheffield Wednesday, MK Dons, Macclesfield and Rochdale respectively.

All games will be played in the week commencing Monday 22nd August.

Manchester United

Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans will be sidelined because of an injury. Evans suffered an ankle injury during training with the Northern Ireland national team.

“Rio Ferdinand suffers from calf injury since last week. He will be sidelined for several weeks,” said Ferguson.

“Jonny Evans picked up an injury while training with the Northern Ireland national team. He will not play, so Chris Smalling will play. I’m sure he’ll play well.”

“Chris had shown tremendous progress this season. He has a problem with his back last Friday, so I put Jonny Evans as a substitute last week.”

“We are all delighted with him. He’s been standing out since coming to the club. He has played several games now. Of course, he lacks of big match experience but seen from the experience he has, he has played well so far,” added Fergie.

Liverpool’s Carling Cup journey this season had to end after loosing on penalties to Northampton.

This failure continues a series of poor results of Liverpool earlier this season in the Premier League where they are now in 16th position with only got five points from five games.

Feeling guilty of such failure, Hodgson apologized to fans who are very disappointed with the defeat against Northampton.

“All I can do is give congratulations to Northampton and apologized to everyone,” said the 62-year-old man.

“The players should be responsible. I am responsible for changing many players on this team. I do it because I honestly think that the players I picked was good enough to win the game but they could not do it.”

“We all must have responsibility. We want to perform well in the Carling Cup and we could not do it,” Hodgson said.

Both teams were forced to finish the game through extra time after a 1-1 draw over 90 minutes. Arsenal’s Henri Lansbury took the first goal at the 15th minute. But Robbie Keane equalized in the four minute of the second half.

The game began with a tribute to Tottenham legend Bobby Smith, who died earlier. Arsenal soon took over control of the game from the kick-off.

In the 13th minute, Arsenal protested because they were not given a penalty when midfielder Henri Lansbury was brought down by Benoit Assou-Ekotto in the box. But referee Probert L was not interested.

Two minutes later, Lansbury finally beaten the Tottenham goalkeeper. Starting from an assist from Jack Wilshere, Lansbury easily beat Tottenham goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa.

Being behind a goal forced Tottenham to develop their  game. Practically throughout the first half Arsenal dominated. The 1-0 score stood until the first half ended.

In the second half, Tottenham’s game  were more lively after coach Harry Redknapp brought on Aaron Lennon and Robbie Keane.

Redknapp decision was correct. The result, in the 49th minute, Keane score the equalizer after receiving the ball from defender Kyle Noughton.

After the goal, both teams attacked each other in turns. However, a number of opportunities could not be converted into goals, and draw lasted for 90 minutes.

Arsenal were back in front in injury time after given a penalty. Referee awarded a penalty after Sebastien Bassong brought Nasri down in the penalty are.  Nasri took the penalty himself  and successfully put the ball in the net.

Arsenal got another penalty one minute later after Maraouane Chamakh was brought down. Nasri again scored from the spot.

Substitute Andrey Arshavin finally finished the game with a 4-1 Arsenal victory with his goal in the 105 minute.

Totthenham Hotspur 1-4 Arsenal Highlight

The last time the two sides faced each other in this tournament, Spurs won the bragging rights as they convincingly beat Arsene Wenger’s side 5-1 at White Hart Lane.

This fixture will come a week after Harry Redknapp’s men travel to Germany to face Werder Bremen in their first match of their Champions League campaign.

Meanwhile, Premier League champions Chelsea have been handed a home tie against newly-promoted Newcastle United.

Cup holders Manchester United face a tricky away fixture against Championship side Scunthorpe United.

There is also a repeat of last year’s semi-final between Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers.

The two teams managed to produce an enthralling 6-4 scoreline in the second leg at Villa Park.

The full draw:
Brentford v Everton
Portsmouth v Leicester City
Stoke City v Fulham
Chelsea v Newcastle United
Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers
Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal
Millwall v Ipswich Town
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Notts County
Burnley v Bolton Wanderers
Birmingham City v Milton Keynes Dons
Liverpool v Northampton Town
Scunthorpe United v Manchester United
West Bromwich Albion v Manchester City
Sunderland v West Ham United
Peterborough United v Swansea City
Wigan Athletic v Preston North End