Carling Cup Fourth Round Fixtures: Lower League Clubs Hope To Advance In England’s Often-Overlooked Tournament

For a comprehensive match report, visit SB Nation’s Aston Villa blog, 7500 to Holte.

Ted Harwood from The Short Fuse reflects on the start of the match:

It makes me nervous to see how overconfident supporters are over this tie. Aston Villa are missing key players, including Stiliyan Petrov, Luke Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor. The team still hasn’t settled down and adjusted following the turmoil at the start of the season. The Villa are unable to score--254 minutes and counting!--and are unable to win--they have just one point from three games. So why the assumption? Is it simply because Villa are playing a Championship side at home?

The Clarets are sitting seventh in the Championship and have aspirations of moving back up to the Premier League. Aston Villa seem to sink lower in the table each time they play a match. This tie could see a cup-set, with Villa displaced and Burnley moving forward.

The fourth round of the Carling Cup starts today, even if few will pay it much attention. The League Cup (sponsored by Carling) is England’s little-sister tournament, with accolades and column inches being saved for the FA Cup. Yet the Carling Cup is not that dissimilar to the FA Cup. The top four football leagues in England enter into a single-elimination tournament, the clubs make money off television rights, there’s a cash prize at the end, and the winner gets an automatic spot in the Europa League.