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On Wednesday evening, the last matches of the eighth-finals in the English League Cup ("Carling cup") tournament were played. The "Chelsea" club easily defeated "Aston Villa" 4-0, "Arsenal" and "Liverpool" clinched narrow victories, and "Tottenham" only managed to win against the third division team "Port Vale" in extra time.
Although London's "Chelsea" played against "Aston Villa" without their injured captain John Terry, they took the initiative from the very first minutes. It is worth noting that the guests only had one shot on goal throughout the match. The hosts were already protected by goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini who had recovered from an injury.
In the 32nd minute, Frank Lampard scored with a precise header to put the blues ahead. In the 65th minute, Andrei Shevchenko doubled the lead with a great header from the left side, and at the end of the match, "Chelsea" solidified their lead with goals from Michael Essien and Didier Drogba from about 10 meters.
Another team from the capital, "Arsenal," won 1-0 against Liverpool's "Everton" as visitors. In the 18th minute, "Everton" lost their forward James McFadden to a red card shown by referee Graham Poll. After this incident, the Gunners took control and dominated the field for the rest of the time. The hosts mostly defended and counter-attacked. "Arsenal" proved their superiority only with 5 minutes left to play, when Emmanuel Adebayor scored with a header after Mathieu Flamini's corner kick.
With the same scoreline, "Liverpool" won 1-0 against "Birmingham City" as visitors. The only goal of the match came at the end of the first half – defender Daniel Agger scored from a few meters out during a scramble after a corner kick.
In the second half, "Liverpool" took control and could have scored again. However, in the 64th minute, Mark Taylor saved Craig Bellamy's penalty shot. At the end of the match, "Birmingham City" tried to equalize, but their attacks were successfully stopped by Polish goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek, who replaced Pepe Reina in this match.
"Tottenham" had a lot of trouble at home against the humble "Port Vale" club. Despite a significant advantage in gameplay, the hosts conceded a goal in the middle of the second half. However, with 10 minutes left to play, Tom Huddlestone equalized with a long-range shot.
In extra time, "Tottenham" managed to prove their superiority. In the 99th minute, Tom Huddlestone scored an impressive goal from about 30 meters, and at the beginning of the second period, Jermain Defoe scored the third goal.
Statistics of the Wednesday quarter-final matches:
"Chelsea" 4 – 0 "Aston Villa" 32‘ [1 - 0] Frank Lampard 65‘ [2 - 0] Andriy Shevchenko 82‘ [3 – 0] Michael Essien 84‘ [4 – 0] Didier Drogba
"Everton" 0 – 1 "Arsenal" 85‘ [0 – 1] Emmanuel Adebayor 18‘ James McFadden sent off ("Everton")
"Birmingham City" 0 – 1 "Liverpool" 45‘ [0 – 1] Daniel Agger
"Tottenham" 3 – 1 "Port Vale", after extra time 64‘ [0 – 1] Leon Constantine 80‘ [1 – 1] Tom Huddlestone 99‘ [2 – 1] Tom Huddlestone 106‘ [3 – 1] Jermain Defoe
