2009–10 Football League Cup

The 2009–10 Football League Cup (known as the Carling Cup due to the competition's sponsorship by lager brand Carling) was the 50th season of the Football League Cup, a knock-out competition for the top 92 football clubs played in English football league system.^[1] Manchester United successfully defended their League Cup title after defeating Aston Villa by 2–1 in the final at Wembley Stadium on 28 February 2010.

2009–10 Football League Cup

Carling Cup, League Cup
Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Dates	10 August 2009 – 28 February 2010
Teams	92
Defending champions	Manchester United
Final positions
Champions	Manchester United (4th title)
Runner-up	Aston Villa
Tournament statistics
Matches played	93
Goals scored	304 (3.27 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Carlos Tevez (6 goals)
← 2008–09 2010–11 →

Each season, the League Cup winners – like the winners of the FA Cup – were granted a place in the UEFA Europa League for the following season. However, in cases where a team had already gained a place in European competition via their league position or progress in other cup competitions, their place in the Europa League was deferred to the next-placed league side. In this season, since Manchester United and FA Cup winners Chelsea qualified for the UEFA Champions League via the Premier League, Aston Villa and Liverpool qualified for the Europa League as the sixth- and seventh-placed sides in the league.

First round

The draw for the First Round took place on 16 June 2009, with matches played two months later in the week beginning 10 August 2009.^[2][3]

Newcastle United and Middlesbrough received a first round bye as the highest ranked Football League teams from the previous season's league placings.^[4] The other 70 of the 72 Football League clubs competed in the First Round, 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 depend upon their finishing position in the 2008–09 season.

North Tie no Home team Score1 Away team Attendance 1 Accrington Stanley 2–1 Walsall 1,041 2 Huddersfield Town 3–1 Stockport County 5,120 3 Rotherham United 2–1 Derby County 4,345 4 Tranmere Rovers 4–0 Grimsby Town 3,527 5 Sheffield Wednesday 3–0 Rochdale 6,696 6 Bury 0–2 West Bromwich Albion 3,077 7 Notts County 0–1 Doncaster Rovers 4,893 8 Lincoln City 0–1 Barnsley 3,635 9 Scunthorpe United 2–1 Chesterfield 2,501 10 Coventry City 0–0 Hartlepool United 6,055 Hartlepool United won 1–0 after extra time 11 Darlington 0–1 Leeds United 4,487 12 Preston North End 5–1 Morecambe 5,407 13 Crewe Alexandra 1–2 Blackpool 2,991 14 Carlisle United 1–0 Oldham Athletic 2,509 15 Nottingham Forest 3–0 Bradford City 4,639 16 Macclesfield Town 0–2 Leicester City 2,197 17 Sheffield United 1–2 Port Vale 7,627

South Tie no Home team Score1 Away team Attendance 1 Cardiff City 3–1 Dagenham & Redbridge 5,545 2 Wycombe Wanderers 0–4 Peterborough United 2,078 3 Southampton 2–0 Northampton Town 10,921 4 Barnet 0–0 Watford 3,139 Watford won 2–0 after extra time 5 Hereford United 0–0 Charlton Athletic 2,017 Hereford United won 1–0 after extra time 6 Bristol Rovers 2–1 Aldershot Town 3,644 7 Millwall 4–0 AFC Bournemouth 3,552 8 Gillingham 2–1 Plymouth Argyle 3,306 9 Colchester United 1–2 Leyton Orient 3,308 10 Reading 5–1 Burton Albion 5,893 11 Exeter City 0–5 Queens Park Rangers 4,614 12 Cheltenham Town 1–2 Southend United 1,918 13 Brentford 0–1 Bristol City 3,024 14 Yeovil Town 0–4 Norwich City 3,860 15 Crystal Palace 2–1 Torquay United 3,140 16 Milton Keynes Dons 1–4 Swindon Town 4,812 17 Swansea City 3–0 Brighton & Hove Albion 6,400 18 Shrewsbury Town 3–3 Ipswich Town 4,184 3–3 after extra time–Ipswich Town won 4–2 on penalties

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Second round

Main article: 2009 Upton Park riot

The 13 Premier League teams not involved in European competitions entered at this stage, along with the winners from the First Round plus Newcastle United and Middlesbrough, who received a First Round bye. From the Second Round onwards, the teams are no longer split geographically. The draw for the Second Round took place on 12 August 2009, after the First Round games had been completed,^[5] and the matches were played in the week beginning 24 August 2009.^[2]

Tie no	Home team	Score1	Away team	Attendance
1	West Bromwich Albion	2–2	Rotherham United	10,659
West Bromwich Albion won 4–3 after extra time
2	Norwich City	1–4	Sunderland	12,345
3	Tranmere Rovers	0–1	Bolton Wanderers	5,381
4	Queens Park Rangers	2–1	Accrington Stanley	5,203
5	Bristol City	0–2	Carlisle United	6,359
6	Leyton Orient	0–0	Stoke City	2,742
Stoke City won 1–0 after extra time
7	Port Vale	2–0	Sheffield Wednesday	6,667
8	Hull City	3–1	Southend United	7,994
9	Leeds United	1–1	Watford	14,681
Leeds United won 2–1 after extra time
10	Cardiff City	3–1	Bristol Rovers	9,767
11	Portsmouth	4–1	Hereford United	6,645
12	Crystal Palace	0–2	Manchester City	14,725
13	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0–0	Swindon Town	11,416
0–0 after extra time–Wolverhampton Wanderers won 6–5 on penalties
14	Gillingham	1–3	Blackburn Rovers	7,203
15	Blackpool	4–1	Wigan Athletic	8,089
16	Southampton	1–2	Birmingham City	11,753
17	Preston North End	2–1	Leicester City	6,977
18	Newcastle United	4–3	Huddersfield Town	23,815
19	West Ham United	1–1	Millwall	24,492
West Ham United won 3–1 after extra time
20	Hartlepool United	1–1	Burnley	3,501
Burnley won 2–1 after extra time
21	Nottingham Forest	1–1	Middlesbrough	8,838
Nottingham Forest won 2–1 after extra time
22	Reading	1–2	Barnsley	5,576
23	Swansea City	1–2	Scunthorpe United	7,321
24	Doncaster Rovers	1–5	Tottenham Hotspur	12,923
25	Peterborough United	2–1	Ipswich Town	5,451

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Third round

The seven Premier League teams involved in European competition enter at this stage, along with the winners from the Second Round. The draw for the Third Round took place on 29 August 2009, after the Second Round games had been played. The matches were played in the week beginning 21 September 2009.^[2]

Tie no	Home team	Score1	Away team	Attendance
1	Arsenal	2–0	West Bromwich Albion	56,592
2	Chelsea	1–0	Queens Park Rangers	37,781
3	Bolton Wanderers	1–1	West Ham United	8,050
Bolton Wanderers won 3–1 after extra time
4	Barnsley	3–2	Burnley	6,270
5	Hull City	0–4	Everton	13,558
6	Leeds United	0–1	Liverpool	38,168
7	Manchester United	1–0	Wolverhampton Wanderers	51,160
8	Manchester City	1–1	Fulham	24,507
Manchester City won 2–1 after extra time
9	Sunderland	2–0	Birmingham City	20,576
10	Peterborough United	2–0	Newcastle United	10,298
11	Carlisle United	1–3	Portsmouth	7,042
12	Nottingham Forest	0–1	Blackburn Rovers	11,553
13	Stoke City	4–3	Blackpool	13,957
14	Scunthorpe United	0–0	Port Vale	3,383
Scunthorpe United won 2–0 after extra time
15	Preston North End	1–5	Tottenham Hotspur	16,533
16	Aston Villa	1–0	Cardiff City	22,527

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Fourth round

The draw for the Fourth Round took place after the Third Round games had been played, on 26 September 2009, and the matches were played on the week beginning on 26 October 2009.^[2] The only clubs from outside the Premier League left in the draw were Barnsley, Peterborough United and Scunthorpe United.

Tie no	Home team	Score1	Away team	Attendance
1	Blackburn Rovers	5–2	Peterborough United	8,419
2	Manchester City	5–1	Scunthorpe United	36,358
3	Tottenham Hotspur	2–0	Everton	35,843
4	Barnsley	0–2	Manchester United	20,019
5	Chelsea	4–0	Bolton Wanderers	41,538
6	Sunderland	0–0	Aston Villa	27,666
0–0 after extra time–Aston Villa won 3–1 on penalties
7	Arsenal	2–1	Liverpool	60,004
8	Portsmouth	4–0	Stoke City	11,251

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Fifth round

The Fifth Round draw took place on 31 October, and the matches were played in the week commencing 30 November 2009.^[2]

Portsmouth	2–4	Aston Villa
Petrov 10' (o.g.) Kanu 87'	Report	Heskey 12' Milner 27' Downing 74' A. Young 89'

1 December 2009

19:45

Fratton Park, Portsmouth

Attendance: 17,034

Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire)

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Manchester United	2–0	Tottenham Hotspur
Gibson 16', 38'	Report

1 December 2009

20:00

Old Trafford, Manchester

Attendance: 57,212

Referee: Mark Clattenburg (County Durham)

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Manchester City	3–0	Arsenal
Tevez 50' Wright-Phillips 69' Weiss 89'	Report

2 December 2009

19:45

City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester

Attendance: 46,015

Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside)

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Blackburn Rovers	3–3 (a.e.t.)	Chelsea
Kalinić 9' Emerton 64' McCarthy 93' (pen.)	Report	Drogba 48' Kalou 52' Ferreira 120+2'
Penalties
McCarthy Emerton Grella Kalinić Hoilett	4–3	Ballack Drogba Malouda Zhirkov Kakuta

2 December 2009

20:00

Ewood Park, Blackburn

Attendance: 18,136

Referee: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire)

Semi-finals

The semi-final draw took place on 2 December 2009, after the completion of the first three Fifth Round matches. The first leg matches were to be played the week commencing 4 January 2010, but adverse weather conditions including severe snow and ice in North West England caused the games to be rearranged.^[2]

First leg

Blackburn Rovers	0–1	Aston Villa
	Report	Milner 23'

14 January 2010

20:00

Ewood Park, Blackburn

Attendance: 18,595

Referee: Mark Clattenburg (County Durham)

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Manchester City	2–1	Manchester United
Tevez 42' (pen.), 65'	Report	Giggs 17'

19 January 2010

20:00

City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester

Attendance: 46,067

Referee: Mike Dean (Cheshire)

Second leg

Aston Villa	6–4	Blackburn Rovers
Warnock 30' Milner 40' (pen.) Nzonzi 53' (o.g.) Agbonlahor 58' Heskey 62' A. Young 90+3'	Report	Kalinić 10', 26' Olsson 63' Emerton 84'

20 January 2010

19:45

Villa Park, Birmingham

Attendance: 40,406

Referee: Martin Atkinson (West Yorkshire)

Aston Villa won 7–4 on aggregate.

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Manchester United	3–1	Manchester City
Scholes 52' Carrick 71' Rooney 90+2'	Report	Tevez 76'

27 January 2010

20:00

Old Trafford, Manchester

Attendance: 74,576

Referee: Howard Webb (South Yorkshire)

Manchester United won 4–3 on aggregate.

Final

Main article: 2010 Football League Cup final

The final was played at Wembley Stadium, London, on Sunday, 28 February 2010.

Aston Villa	1–2	Manchester United
Milner 5' (pen.)	Report	Owen 12' Rooney 74'

28 February 2010

15:00

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 88,596

Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)

Prize money

The prize money is awarded by the Football League. The winners of the League Cup won £100,000 and the runners-up won £50,000. The losing semi-finalists each took home £25,000.^[6]