Carling Cup Betting
The English League Cup, or the Carling Cup as it is currently known, is English football’s secondary knockout competition. Established in 1960 the competition has taken on several sponsor prefixes and has therefore been known by a number of different names including the Milk Cup, Littlewoods Challenge Cup, Rumbelows Cup and Worthington Cup.
The competition includes the 92 English football league clubs with the winners qualifying for the following season’s Europa League, providing they have not already qualified for European competition by virtue of their league position or by winning the FA Cup.
In its current format teams from League Two, League One and The Championship enter the Carling Cup at the first round stage (unless they are representing England in European competition that season), they are then joined by Premier League teams (not playing in the Champions League or Europa League) at the second round stage. Then at round three teams playing in Europe join the second round winners and from thereon in it is a straight knockout format. Ties are played over just one game with extra-time and penalties used to determine the winner in the event of a draw after 90 minutes.
Carling Cup History
Liverpool are the most successful team in League Cup history having won it on seven separate occasions throughout its history. Aston Villa have won five League Cups while Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea and Nottingham forest have each won the tournament on four separate occasions.
The first League Cup final was a two-legged affair from which Aston Villa emerged victorious after beating Rotherham 3-0 after extra-time at Villa Park. In 1967 the League Cup final moved to Wembley where a single match decided the winner. Queens Park Rangers beat West Bromwich Albion 3-2 in the first ever Wembley League Cup final.
The 1978 League Cup was, famously, the first trophy that Brian Clough won as manager of Nottingham Forest. The club would later go on to win another three League Cups, an English league title and two European Cups.
The 2011-12 season will be the final season that Carling sponsor the League Cup, therefore, from 2012-13 onwards the competition will take on a new prefix name.
Carling Cup Betting Strategies
Betting on the Carling Cup has proved to be a tricky proposition in recent years. Due to the increasing emphasis on surviving in the Premier League, getting promoted to the Premier League and progressing in the Champions League teams at varying positions within the English football league structure now use the competition as an opportunity to rotate their squads.
That means that the majority of teams entering the competition, specifically those in the upper echelons of the football pyramid, rarely play their strongest team. Carling Cup betting, consequently, becomes something of a minefield. Can players who have spent the last few weeks on the sidelines step up to the plate? Can they immediately gel as a team? If they’re not good enough to play in the league are they good enough to play in the League Cup?
These days the big clubs have such strong squads that when both sides make multiple changes to their starting XI they still tend to come out on top. But there is also the niggling idea in a punters mind that managers of teams with smaller squads may have little desire to progress to the next round. For the reason of team selection alone Carling Cup betting is declining in popularity along with the status of the competition itself.