There were no major upsets in the third round of the Capital One Cup on Wednesday night as Manchester United, Arsenal and holders Liverpool all booked places in the last 16.
Does this mean that the 'bigger' Premier League clubs are taking this competition more seriously than in recent times?
Everton and Manchester City might be out but the emphatic wins of some of the elite over the past two days means that either this is the case or the second string squads have just improved rapidly in the past few seasons.
Fourth round draw pits Chelsea v Manchester United
Moments after all of Wednesday’s ties were completed, the draw took place for round four.
The pick of the ties is a showdown between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.
This will come just three days after a televised Premier League meeting at the end of October.
It will be a case of old friends reunited at Anfield as Brendan Rodgers old side Swansea travel to his new club Liverpool.
Similarly, Norwich manager Chris Hughton will get another chance to overcome Tottenham as a manager, as the two sides were drawn together for a showdown at Carrow Road.
Arsenal will head to Reading and there is an interesting tie for Southampton, who have to make the journey to Everton’s conquerors Leeds United in the last 16.
Swindon Town will be aiming for another major scalp when Aston Villa visit the County Ground.
Local pride will be at stake on Wearside as Sunderland clash with Middlesbrough at the Stadium of Light and Bradford’s reward for knocking out Burton Albion on Tuesday is a visit to Wigan Athletic.
All ties will be played on the 30th and 31st October, so there could be some extra Halloween surprises on offer.
No trouble for Arsenal and Tottenham
Remarkably, Arsene Wenger has never won this competition and it is the only one he has never won domestically in England.
His Arsenal side cruised into the fourth round, with a convincing 6-1 thrashing of League One strugglers Coventry City.
Theo Walcott helped himself to a couple of goals and there were also strikes from Olivier Giroud, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the forgotten man of the Emirates Andrey Arshavin and defender Ignasi Miquel.
Wenger made wholesale changes from Sunday’s draw with Manchester City in the Premier League but his youngsters and reserves have always had a decent amount of quality.
It is difficult to judge their performance against an opposition that is low on confidence and can’t find a win from anywhere at the moment.
It will be interesting to see how they fare against Reading in the next round.
Wenger said: “I think we did our job, in the first half we were tested defensively mainly, in the second half our offensive potential made the difference when they tired a little bit.”
North London rivals Tottenham also made sweeping alterations but they were far too strong for Carlisle United at Brunton Park.
Goals from Jan Vertonghen, Andros Townsend and Gylfi Sigurdsson gave them a comfortable 3-0 away success.
Andre Villas-Boas shuffled his pack but with players like Tom Huddlestone, Michael Dawson, Clint Dempsey and Steven Caulker all featuring from the start, this shows the rich amount of choices the Spurs boss has at his disposal.
The holders edge out Albion
Cup holders Liverpool recovered from an early setback to defeat West Brom 2-1 at the Hawthorns.
Gabriel Tamas drove Albion ahead after only three minutes, after Brad Jones spilled a free-kick.
However, the Reds made 11 changes from Sunday’s loss to Manchester United and showed strong resolve to record a priceless victory, courtesy of two goals from loan signing Nuri Sahin.
The Turkish international has struggled for match fitness since arriving last month from Real Madrid but he is looking sharper with each match and these two goals will help.
Liverpool might have gone into this tie as narrow underdogs, so this will be a morale boosting success for Rodgers and with a shallow side too.
This shows that there is more resolve than many thought there might be at Anfield.
Afterwards, Rodgers told the BBC: “That was fantastic. It was an outstanding performance and I’m not surprised. Our performances so far this season have been excellent.
“It was great to see the kids play with so much confidence and that nice football arrogance with the ball.”
It was an inexperienced Manchester United backline but the Red Devils edged out Newcastle United 2-1 at Old Trafford.
Wayne Rooney returned after a month out injured and lasted a solid 75 minutes, while having Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck in attack is not bad for a supposed ‘second-string attack.’
Midfielders Anderson and Tom Cleverley got the crucial strikes and the popular Darren Fletcher got a full 90 minutes under his belt too.
It was a night full of positives for Sir Alex Ferguson and having won this trophy recently in 2009 and 2010, he’d like to do it again – especially as their noisy neighbours have already been dispatched.
Norwich and Reading progress
In the other two ties on Wednesday night, there was progression for Norwich City and Reading.
Norwich beat Doncaster Rovers 1-0, advancing into the last 16 of the League Cup for the first time since 1995.
Alex Tettey scored his first goal for the Canaries, as Chris Hughton made numerous changes but his side were still too good for Rovers.
For Norwich, survival is the more paramount battle this season but a cup run wouldn’t hurt and it could be seen as a confidence gain, rather than a strain for the players.
Reading are going for prizes in this competition, as they fielded an almost full-strength side to defeat QPR 3-2 at Loftus Road.
The Royals had to come from behind twice here, with the winning goal arriving from Pavel Pogrebynak in the last 10 minutes.
Hoops manager Mark Hughes was disappointed afterwards, saying: “To lose it in the manner we did is disappointing but it is understandable to a certain extent given the changes and the injuries we have at the back.
“We haven’t had that continuity at the back, which you need to bang results out.”
Both these Premier League outfits put out strong sides, showing that some teams do want to make an impression on a competition that has been devalued by many in the last decade.
With the likes of Chelsea, Sunderland, Swansea and Wigan all progressing on Tuesday, there is plenty of Premier League representation in the fourth round.
The first Wembley showpiece in 2013 might get a top quality final.
CAPITAL ONE CUP THIRD ROUND RESULTS
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Arsenal 6-1 Coventry City
Carlisle United 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur
Manchester United 2-1 Newcastle United
Norwich City 1-0 Doncaster Rovers
QPR 2-3 Reading
West Brom 1-2 Liverpool
CAPITAL ONE CUP FOURTH ROUND DRAW
Sunderland v Middlesbrough
Swindon Town v Aston Villa
Wigan Athletic v Bradford City
Leeds United v Southampton
Norwich City v Tottenham Hotspur
Liverpool v Swansea City
Chelsea v Manchester United
Reading v Arsenal
All ties to be played on 30/31 October 2012
By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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