Carling Cup Fourth Round Results: Arsenal, Aston Villa and West Ham Move Through To The Quarter Finals

With the elimination of Burnley, Newcastle and Stoke City today, the Carling Cup is now down to eight clubs: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Birmingham, Manchester United, Ipswich Town, West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United and Wigan Athletic. Only one of those teams, Ipswich, is from the Championship, and no teams remain from Leagues One or Two.

Today, Arsenal were the first to earn their way through to the quarter-finals, with Newcastle falling 0-4 to the visitors. The route began when Ryan Taylor attempted to clear the ball and instead hit his own keeper, with the ball bouncing off Tim Krul and into the Newcastle net. The Gunners weren't content to sit back, though, and ended the night with an 88^th minute goal from Theo Walcott.

West Ham made things interesting by allowing Stoke City the early lead, with Kenwyne Jones once again heading into the net. The Irons had little control in the first half, allowing the visitors to boss the game, but came back to life in the second, with Scott Parker finally getting the equalizer in the 84^th minute. Substitute Mark Nobel provided the cross for Da Costa's go-ahead goal in added extra time, and a goal by Victor Obinna gave West Ham the win, 3-1.

Aston Villa did their best to put Championship side Burnley through, allowing the visiting Clarets a goal in the final minute of regular time. Substitute Emile Heskey had scored just three minutes before for the Villans. Fortunately for Gerard Houllier's men, Stewart Downing turned on the charm, slamming the ball into the net from twenty yards out and giving Villa the 2-1 victory.