2010–11 Football League Cup

Football League Cup 2010-11
Region	England Wales
Number of teams	92
Defending champions	Manchester United
Champions	Birmingham City
Runner-up	Arsenal
Top goal scorer	Scott Sinclair Carlton Cole (4 goals)
← 2009-10	2011-12 →

The 2010–11 Football League Cup, known as the Carling Cup due to the competition's sponsorship by lager brand Carling, was the 51st season of the Football League Cup, a knock-out competition for England's top 92 football clubs.

Each season, the League Cup winners – like the winners of the FA Cup – are granted a place in the UEFA Europa League for the following season. However, in cases where a team has already gained a place in European competition via their league position or progress in other cup competitions, their place in the Europa League is deferred to the next-placed league side.

Manchester United were the defending champions for the second successive season, but were knocked out in the Fifth Round by West Ham United.

The final was contested on 27 February 2011 between Arsenal and Birmingham City. Birmingham were the surprise 2–1 winners in the final to win just the second major trophy in their history. Birmingham City won their first major trophy since 1963.

First round

The draw for the First Round took place on 16 June 2010, with matches played two months later in the week beginning 9 August 2010.

Burnley and Hull City received a first round bye as the highest ranked Football League teams from the previous season's league placings. 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 2009–10 season.

North Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 1 Hartlepool United 2–0 Sheffield United 2,520 2 Leicester City 4–3 Macclesfield Town 6,142 3 Walsall 0–1 Tranmere Rovers 2,253 4 Carlisle United 0–1 Huddersfield Town 3,475 5 Stockport County 0–5 Preston North End 3,724 6 Barnsley 0–1 Rochdale 4,107 7 Morecambe 2–0 Coventry City 4,002 8 Doncaster Rovers 1–1 Accrington Stanley 4,603 Accrington Stanley won 2–1 after extra time 9 Chesterfield 1–2 Middlesbrough 6,509 10 Peterborough United 4–1 Rotherham United 4,145 11 Bradford City 1–1 Nottingham Forest 5,175 Bradford City won 2–1 after extra time 12 Leeds United 4–0 Lincoln City 12,602 13 Sheffield Wednesday 1–0 Bury 7,390 14 Scunthorpe United 2–1 Oldham Athletic 2,602 15 Crewe Alexandra 1–0 Derby County 3,778

South Tie no Home team Score1 Away team Attendance 1 Exeter City 2–2 Ipswich Town 4,520 Ipswich Town won 3–2 after extra time 2 Southend United 2–2 Bristol City 2,940 Southend won 3–2 after extra time 3 Southampton 2–0 AFC Bournemouth 17,135 4 Brentford 2–1 Cheltenham Town 2,049 5 Queens Park Rangers 1–3 Port Vale 6,619 6 Torquay United Reading 7 Norwich City 4–1 Gillingham 13,068 8 Stevenage 1–2 Portsmouth 4,236 9 Shrewsbury Town 4–3 Charlton Athletic 3,700 10 Cardiff City Burton Albion 11 Northampton Town 2–0 Brighton & Hove Albion 2,431 12 Swansea City 3–0 Barnet 6,644 13 Plymouth Argyle 0–1 Notts County 5,454 14 Wycombe Wanderers 1–1 Millwall 3,028 Millwall won 2–1 after extra time 15 Oxford United 6–1 Bristol Rovers 5,008 16 Milton Keynes Dons 2–1 Dagenham & Redbridge 3,502 17 Hereford United 0–3 Colchester United 1,996 18 Yeovil Town 0–1 Crystal Palace 3,720 19 Aldershot Town 0–3 Watford 3,292 20 Swindon Town 1–2 Leyton Orient 4,450

Second Round

The 13 Premier League teams not involved in European competitions entered at this stage along with the winners from the First Round plus Burnley and Hull City, who had received a First Round bye. If there is a draw at full time there will be extra time followed by a penalty shootout if the scores are still level. From the Second Round onwards, the teams are no longer split geographically. The draw for the Second Round took place on the evening of 11 August 2010, after the First Round matches had been completed, and the matches will be played in the week beginning 23 August 2010.

Tie no	Home team	Score1	Away team	Attendance
1	Accrington Stanley	2–3	Newcastle United	4,098
2	Portsmouth	1–1	Crystal Palace	8,412
1–1 after extra time – Portsmouth won 4–3 on penalties
3	Leeds United	1–2	Leicester City	16,509
4	Wolverhampton Wanderers	1–1	Southend United	10,284
Wolverhampton Wanderers won 2–1 after extra time
5	Blackburn Rovers	3–1	Norwich City	9,235
6	Milton Keynes Dons	3–3	Blackpool	7,458
Milton Keynes Dons won 4–3 after extra time
7	Tranmere Rovers	1–3	Swansea City	2,450
8	Everton	5–1	Huddersfield Town
9	Peterborough United	2–1	Cardiff City	3,806
10	Reading	2–2	Northampton Town	6,986
3–3 after extra time – Northampton Town won 4–2 on penalties
11	Scunthorpe United	4–2	Sheffield Wednesday	4,680
12	Brentford	2–1	Hull City	3,335
13	Sunderland	2–0	Colchester United	13,532
14	Leyton Orient	0–2	West Bromwich Albion	2,349
15	Morecambe	1–3	Burnley	5,003
16	Birmingham City	3-2	Rochdale
17	Crewe Alexandra	0–0	Ipswich Town	3,309
Ipswich Town won 1–0 after extra time
18	Watford	1–2	Notts County	6,434
19	West Ham United	1–0	Oxford United	20,902
20	Southampton	0–1	Bolton Wanderers	10,251
21	Bradford City	1–1	Preston North End	4,221
Preston North End won 2–1 after extra time
22	Fulham	6–0	Port Vale	9,031
23	Millwall	2–1	Middlesbrough	6,704
24	Stoke City	2–1	Shrewsbury Town	11,995
25	Hartlepool United	0–3	Wigan Athletic	3,196

Third Round

The seven Premier League teams involved in European competition entered at this stage, along with the winners from the Second Round. The draw for the Third Round took place on 28 August 2010, after the Second Round games had been played. The matches will be played in the week beginning 20 September 2010. Northampton Town are the only remaining League Two side left in the competition.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance	Comments
1	Brentford	1 – 1	Everton	8,960	1 – 1 after extra time – Brentford won 4 – 3 on penalties
2	Portsmouth	1 – 2	Leicester City	8,327
3	Stoke City	2 – 0	Fulham	12,778
4	Chelsea	3 – 4	Newcastle United	41,511
5	Aston Villa	3 – 1	Blackburn Rovers	18,753
6	Tottenham Hotspur	1 – 1	Arsenal	35,883	Arsenal won 4 – 1 after extra time
7	Millwall	1 – 2	Ipswich Town	5,070
8	Wolverhampton Wanderers	1 – 1	Notts County	11,516	Wolverhampton Wanderers won 4 – 2 after extra time
9	Burnley	1 – 0	Bolton Wanderers	17,602
10	Birmingham City	3 – 1	Milton Keynes Dons	9,450
11	Liverpool	2 – 2	Northampton Town	22,577	Northampton won 4 – 2 on penalties
12	Scunthorpe United	2 – 5	Manchester United	9,077
13	West Bromwich Albion	2 – 1	Manchester City	10,418
14	Sunderland	1 – 2	West Ham United	21,907
15	Peterborough United	1 – 3	Swansea City	4,164
16	Wigan Athletic	2 – 1	Preston North End	6,987

Fourth round

The Fourth Round draw took place on 25 September 2010, and the matches were played on the week commencing 25 October 2010. For the second consecutive round, Northampton Town was the lowest ranked remaining side, being the lone representative from League Two. All four leagues involved in this competition had representation in the Fourth Round for the first time since the 2006–07 competition.

Tie no	Home team	Score1	Away team	Attendance
1	Newcastle United	0 – 4	Arsenal	33,157
2	Birmingham City	1 – 1	Brentford	15,166
1 – 1 after extra time – Birmingham City won 4 – 3 on penalties
3	Wigan Athletic	2 – 0	Swansea City	11,705
4	Aston Villa	1 – 1	Burnley	34,618
Aston Villa won 2 – 1 after extra time
5	Leicester City	1 – 4	West Bromwich Albion	16,957
6	Manchester United	3 – 2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46,083
7	West Ham United	1 – 1	Stoke City	25,304
West Ham United won 3 – 1 after extra time
8	Ipswich Town	3 – 1	Northampton Town	12,929

Fifth Round

Ipswich Town was the lowest ranked remaining side left in the competition, and the sole remaining representative of the Championship in the Fifth Round draw, which took place on 30 October 2010. Matches were played in the week commencing 29 November 2010.

30 November 2010 19:45	Arsenal	2 – 0	Wigan Athletic	Emirates Stadium, London Attendance: 59,525 Referee: Martin Atkinson (West Yorkshire)
	Alcaraz  42' (o.g.) Bendtner  67'	Report

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1 December 2010 19:45	Birmingham City	2 – 1	Aston Villa	St Andrew's, Birmingham Attendance: 27,679 Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside)
	Larsson  12' (pen.) Žigić  84'	Report	Agbonlahor  30'

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30 November 2010 19:45	West Ham United	4 – 0	Manchester United	Upton Park, London Attendance: 33,551 Referee: Mark Clattenburg (County Durham)
	Spector  22', 37' Cole  56', 66'	Report

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1 December 2010 19:45	Ipswich Town	1 – 0	West Bromwich Albion	Portman Road, Ipswich Attendance: 11,363 Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire)
	Leadbitter  69'	Report

Semi-finals

The semi-final draw took place on 1 December 2010, after the completion of the Fifth Round matches. The first leg matches were played the week commencing 10 January 2011, with the second legs a fortnight later.

First leg

11 January 2011 19:45	West Ham United	2 – 1	Birmingham City	Upton Park, London Attendance: 29,034 Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)
	Noble  13' Cole  78'	Report	Ridgewell  56'

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12 January 2011 19:45	Ipswich Town	1 – 0	Arsenal	Portman Road, Ipswich Attendance: 29,146 Referee: Martin Atkinson (West Yorkshire)
	Priskin  78'	Report

Second leg

25 January 2011 19:45	Arsenal	3 – 0	Ipswich Town	Emirates Stadium, London Attendance: 59,387 Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire) Arsenal won 3–1 on aggregate.
	Bendtner  61' Koscielny  64' Fàbregas  77'	Report

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26 January 2011 19:45	Birmingham City	3 – 1 (a.e.t.)	West Ham United	St Andrew's, Birmingham Attendance: 27,519 Referee: Howard Webb (South Yorkshire) Birmingham won 4–3 on aggregate.
	Bowyer  59' Johnson  79' Gardner  94'	Report	Cole  31'

Final

Main article: 2011 Football League Cup Final

The final was played at Wembley Stadium, London, on Sunday, 27 February 2011.

27 February 2011 16:00 GMT	Arsenal	1 – 2	Birmingham City	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 88,851 Referee: Mike Dean (Cheshire)
	Van Persie  39'	Report	Žigić  28' Martins  89'

Prize money

The prize money was 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.

External links

• Official Carling Cup website
• Carling Cup News at football-league.co.uk
• Carling Cup at bbc.co.uk

2010–11 in English football
FA competitions
FA Cup (Qualifying Rounds, Final) · Community Shield · FA Trophy (Final) · FA Youth Cup
League cups
League Cup (Final) · Football League Trophy (Final)
Premier and Football League
Premier League (Academy · Reserve) · Football League (Championship · League One · League Two) ·
National League
Football Conference (National · North · South)
European competitions
Champions League (Final) · Europa League (Final)
National teams
UEFA Euro 2012 qualification (Group G) · Fabio Capello
Other
Summer 2010 transfers
Club seasons
Premier League
Arsenal · Liverpool ·
Championship
League One
League Two
National League
2009–10                                                        2011–12