Chelsea cruise while Spurs taste victory
Wednesday 24 September 2008
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Frank Lampard celebrates scoring against Portsmouth in Chelsea's win (©Getty Images)
Chelsea FC remain unbeaten under Luiz Felipe Scolari after starting their English League Cup campaign with a 4-0 victory at Portsmouth FC but while holders Tottenham Hotspur FC also made progress to the last 16, two more UEFA Cup hopefuls, Aston Villa FC and Manchester City FC, fell to lower-division opposition.
Lampard double
England's UEFA competition contenders enter at the third-round stage and Chelsea, who lifted this trophy in 2005 and 2007 but lost in last year's final, were keen to follow Tuesday winners including Arsenal FC, Manchester United FC and Liverpool FC in making progress. And while Portsmouth showed their knockout mettle by winning the 2008 FA Cup, they were two down at half-time against Chelsea through Frank Lampard's penalty and a Florent Malouda strike. Lampard made it three after the break after being set up by Salomon Kalou, who then claimed the fourth himself to match Chelsea's score against Portsmouth in their opening Premier League game on 17 August.
Spurs progress
Tottenham may be bottom of the league, without a win, but they made a happy start to their League Cup defence after Roman Pavlyuchenko and Jamie O'Hara struck just after the hour mark at Newcastle United FC to ensure a 2-1 win after Michael Owen's late consolation. However, two other of England's UEFA Cup contenders lost 1-0; Villa went down to a Damion Stewart goal for ambitious second-tier side QPR while Everton were beaten by Blackburn Rovers FC courtesy of Martin Olsson's strike.
City ousted
Wigan Athletic FC are through following a 4-1 win at Ipswich Town FC but in a delayed second-round game Manchester City conceded a last-minute equaliser at Brighton and Hove Albion FC and had to come from behind in extra-time to draw 2-2 and force a penalty shoot-out, only to lose 5-3. Third-level Brighton now play Derby County FC from the division above, while the fourth-round draw is made on Saturday. The eventual winners at Wembley on 1 March will enter the UEFA Cup.
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