League Cup review:There were Capital One Cup wins for youthful Manchester United and Liverpool sides this evening, as Arsenal romped to a 6-1 win over Coventry City at the Emirates Stadium. United eased into the fourth round of the League Cup with a 2-1 win over Premier League rivals Newcastle United at Old Trafford.
Alex Ferguson made 11 changes from the team that started against Liverpool on Sunday with Wayne Rooney returning for the first time since injuring his leg a month ago and midfielder Darren Fletcher making his first start for 10 months.
Midfielder Anderson broke the deadlock with a spectacular left-foot strike from 25 metres a minute before halftime and midfielder Tom Cleverley doubled the lead with a right-foot strike before Papiss Cisse headed a consolation for Newcastle.
United’s reward will be a trip to Chelsea after the fourth round draw was made directly after tonight’s games.
Brendan Rodgers will welcome former club Swansea City to Anfield after his fresh-faced Liverpool side, which included substitute Jerome Sinclair, who at 16 years and six days became the club’s youngest ever senior cap, beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at the Hawthorns.
Gabriel Tamas gave the homeside after three minutes when Brad Jones fumbled a free into the box, but Nuri Sahin struck back in the 17th minute when his long-range effort benefited from more sloppy goalkeeping, this time on behalf of Ben Foster.
Jamie Carragher in the centre of Liverpool’s defence had over 500 appearances more than his teammates combined but the visitors impressed for the rest of the half and controlled much of the possession.
The breakthrough had to wait until eight minutes from time, however, when Sahin finished from close range after brilliant work from replacement Suso and a pinpoint pass from left winger Oussama Assaidi.
Arsenal's Olivier Giroud scored his first goal for the club to put his side ahead before Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Andriy Arshavin, Theo Walcott (2) and Ignasi Miquel completed the rout.
Reading will host Arsenal in the next round came from 2-1 down to beat Queens Park Rangers 3-2 in an all-Premier League match.
Tottenham won 3-0 against Carlisle, thanks to goals from defender Jan Vertonghen, Andros Townsend and Gylfi Sigurdsson and have Norwich City up next after they won 1-0 at home to Doncaster.
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
Liverpool v Swansea City
Chelsea v Manchester United
Reading v Arsenal
