Carling Cup 2011, Quarterfinals: Crystal Palace Pull Off Stunning Upset At Old Trafford, Beat Manchester United 2-1

They did, with Macheda taking the spot kick himself, sending Price the wrong way to level the score. Surprisingly, that didn’t catapult United into a period of dominance (perhaps that’s less surprising when you look at the team they were fielding), and despite the game being tied at 1-1 it was the visitors who seemed most likely to score. Palace were still going after that second goal, even as the clock ticked down towards extra time.

They wouldn’t get their breakthrough before the full time whistle went, but it didn’t take long before they were ahead again, with Zaha tricking his way into a dangerous free kick on the Palace left. Ambrose swung the ball in, and the suspiciously offside-looking Glenn Murray beat Johnny Evans to the header, nodding past a helpless Amos to make it 2-1.

Both City and Liverpool fielded weakened sides in their quarterfinal games, but will likely play stronger sides in the semifinal. Either will be extremely heavily favored to win the trophy if they get to the final, while the fixture congestion of holiday football will be behind them. City will also not have Champions League football to worry about at that time, even if they do make it to the knockout stages.

The ties are two-legged home and away contests. The first leg will take place on the week of January 9, with the second leg taking place the week of January 23.

Though the Citizens were not the better side on the night, their counter attack to set up the goal was spectacular enough that it’s fair to say they deserved to win. Though they lacked their normal invention for most of the match, the counter was easily the best move of the game, worthy of a game-winning goal.

We’ll have coverage of this and every Carling Cup game in our Carling Cup Quarterfinals StoryStream. For more on the two teams, check out Arsenal blog The Short Fuse and Manchester City blog Bitter and Blue. Head over to SB Nation Soccer for more around the entire world of football.

Lucas Leiva was the clear man of the match, dominating the midfield. However, he sustained a bad cut in the 70th minute and had to come off, leaving Liverpool fans to hope that it was only a flesh wound.

We’ll have coverage of this and every Carling Cup game in our Carling Cup Quarterfinals StoryStream. For more on the two teams, check out Chelsea FC blog We Ain’t Got No History and Liverpool blog Anfield Asylum. Head over to SB Nation Soccer for more around the entire world of football.

We’ll have coverage of this and every Carling Cup game in our Carling Cup Quarterfinals StoryStream. For more on the two teams, check out Chelsea FC blog We Ain’t Got No History and Liverpool blog Anfield Asylum. Head over to SB Nation Soccer for more around the entire world of football.

Arsenal Lineup (4-3-3): Fabianski; Djourou, Koscielny, Miquel, Yennaris; Frimpong, Benayoun, Coquelin; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Park, Chamakh

Manchester City Lineup (4-5-1): Pantilimon; Onuoha, Savic, K. Toure, Kolarov; Johnson, de Jong, Nasri, Hargreaves, Zabaleta; Dzeko

Chelsea Lineup (4-3-3): Turnbull; Bosingwa, Alex, Luiz, Bertrand; Romeu, McEachran, Lampard; Malouda, Lukaku, Torres

Liverpool Lineup (4-4-2): Reina; Kelly, Carragher, Coates, Enrique; Lucas, Henderson, Spearing, Maxi; Bellamy, Carroll

Arsene Wenger has named an 18-man squad for his team’s Carling Cup quarterfinal match against Manchester City. In true Arsene Wenger before the cup final fashion, he’s selected hardly any senior players and almost no first-choice players. Only three of the players in his squad are arguably first choice, and it is unlikely that all of them will start. Kids, kids, and more kids for the Gunners. Here’s that team.

Forgive me, but I have never even heard of Nico Yennaris. I have at least heard of the other 17 players in this team. Do I get a medal?

Arsenal will field a strong team, however, and their youngsters are more than capable of getting a result against a City team that is less than first choice. Arsenal blog The Short Fuse points out some of the kids who could get a chance, and also suggests an unlikely switch to a three-man back line.

Game Date / Time: Tuesday, November 29, 3:00 pm ET, 8:00 pm local

Game Date / Time: Tuesday, November 29, 2:45 pm ET, 7:45 pm local

Venue: Stamford Bridge, London, England

If you live in the United States, you can find both games on FOXSoccer.tv. Unfortunately, Chelsea vs. Liverpool will not be on television in the United States, UK or Canada, and is only streaming online. Arsenal vs. Manchester City has much wider availability. In addition to being available on FOXSoccer.tv, the match can be seen on FOX Soccer Plus in the USA, Sky Sports 2 in the UK, and Sportsnet World in Canada.

Chelsea vs. Liverpool kicks off at 2:45 pm ET, 7:45 pm local time. Arsenal vs. Manchester City kicks off 15 minutes later. The other match taking place on Tuesday, Cardiff vs. Blackburn, is not available on television or via legal streaming.

Here’s the full schedule for the Carling Cup quarterfinals:

Cardiff City vs. Blackburn Rovers, 7:45 PM GMT (2:45 PM EST)

Chelsea vs. Liverpool, 7:45 PM GMT (2:45 PM EST)

Arsenal vs. Manchester City, 8:00 PM GMT (3:00 PM EST)