Chelsea incredibly lost to Championship side Burnley following a penalty shoot-out and are out of the Carling Cup after a humiliating night in London.

The Blues enjoyed vastly superior possession and created far more chances, but wasted a host of opportunities, while The Clarets took advantage of Claudio Cudicini’s shakiness to surprise the Premier League leaders.

Didier Drogba celebrated his return to action with a first-half opener, but the Championship side hit back with a stunning equaliser thanks to super sub Ade Akinbiyi. The away side finally qualified on penalties after Burnley captain Stephen Caldwell was sent off.

Juliano Belletti produced the first noticeable effort on goal with a long-range shot that flew over the crossbar before Paulo Ferreira provided a lovely cross to Deco, who missed his header from only six yards out.

The visitors were forced into making fouls in midfield, with Chris McCann and Stephen Jordan sanctioned by the referee in the first 15 minutes of the encounter.

It was then Wayne Bridge’s turn to try his luck from outside of the penalty box, but the defender missed the target with a curling shot and so did Florent Malouda from long distance, as The Blues failed to create decent chances to beat Brian Jensen.

Martin Paterson caused panic in Chelsea’s defence and allowed Wade Elliott to test Cudicini with a direct free-kick after an Alex foul, but the midfielder’s effort did not threaten the Italian.

A minute later, Petr Cech’s understudy Cudicini made a blunder that could have given the lead to Burnley, but Ferreira was in the right place at the right time to avoid a stunning opener.

Belletti was forced off after receiving a knock in the face, and was replaced by Frank Lampard, and it came as no surprise when Chelsea opened the scoring through African hit-man Drogba, on target for the first time this season.

Drogba collected a Lampard pass on the left side of the penalty box, beat his marker and shot between two defenders with the precision of a surgeon on 27 minutes to celebrate his comeback to The Bridge and silence 6,500 Clarets fans.

Malouda imitated his former Guingamp striking partner with another cross-shot, but Jensen did well to palm the ball away, before The Blues missed a glorious chance to make it 2-0 when Branislav Ivanovic headed a Malouda free-kick onto the crossbar from the six-yard box.

Drogba will definitely push for a place in Luiz Felipe Scolari’s starting XI, and the striker produced another chance before the man in black whistled for half-time.

Scolari opted to change his system and replaced Portugal international Deco with John Obi Mikel, but the result was the same - Ivanovic headed over the bar a Ferreira centre from 12 yards.

Owen Coyle realised his team needed more punch, and the manager opted to replace Paterson with Akinbiyi after an hour of play in West London.

This decision paid off 10 minutes later, as The Clarets claimed a stunning equaliser through replacement Akinbiyi, who beat Cudicini from 12 yards after the keeper failed to hold Chris Eagles’ powerful effort.

The striker sent Burnley fans into seventh heaven, but was booked for showing his impressive physique, and the home side hit back straight away through Salomon Kalou, who headed over Jensen’s crossbar.

Chelsea finished stronger and fashioned decent chances to snatch the winner through Alex, who connected with a Lampard free-kick, but saw Jensen catch his effort, and Franco di Santo, who headed straight at the keeper.

But Scolari’s Blues failed to secure a last-gasp goal and were forced into playing extra-time with the courageous Clarets, during which Lampard had a goal ruled out from an offside position.

Brazilian centre back Alex then headed over the bar, and things got worse for Burnley when skipper Caldwell was dismissed for a second bookable offence for a tackle on Malouda.

Alex finally unleashed a free kick over the bar before the referee whistled for penalties at Stamford Bridge.

Bridge missed his spot kick for Chelsea, then Elliot for Burnley, and goalkeeper Jensen became the hero of the night, as he saved Mikel’s last effort to send The Clarets into the quarter-finals.

Chelsea	Team Statistics	Burnley
1	Goals	1
1	1st Half Goals	0
5	Shots on Target	2
16	Shots off Target	3
2	Blocked Shots	0
6	Corners	2
12	Fouls	18
6	Offsides	4
0	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	1
54.8	Possession	45.2

Spurs have done it again - beaten Liverpool at the Lane, and this time with real conviction. They ripped the Reds apart in the first-half of this pulsating Carling Cup tie, eventually winning 4-2 to maintain Harry Redknapp's unbeaten record as Tottenham boss...

It is only 18 days since Harry Redknapp took over at Tottenham, and 11 since the remarkable revival he wrought saw Spurs come from behind to beat Liverpool 2-1 at White Hart Lane in the Premier League.

Tonight the same opponents visited the Lane in the Carling Cup, but any thoughts they had of exacting revenge for their only defeat of the season were blown away in six sensational minutes at the end of the first-half as Harry's Hotspurs scored three times against some uncharacteristically flimsy 'defending' from Liverpool's back-four.

True, it was a somewhat makeshift-looking Reds team - manager Rafael Benitez made 10 changes from the side that beat West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, with Daniel Agger the only man who kept his place. Fernando Torres started after his hamstring injury, taking his place in a starting line-up that featured no English players. (And we thought Arsene Wenger was the anti-Christ).

As for Redknapp, he brought Roman Pavlyuchenko and Frazier Campbell in to lead the line, and rested Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate, David Bentley, Jermaine Jenas, Luka Modric and Darren Bent. But his line-up played with verve and panache, and Pavlyuchenko and Campbell terrorised the Liverpool rearguard.

Early on, Aaron Lennon created half-a-yard to get in a cross from the right that was just too high for Pavlyuchenko, whose header flew away from goal.

For the first-half hour Tottenham were winning nearly all of the individual battles, and Liverpool just hadn't got going; too many in red shirts seemed unwilling or unable to grasp their first-team opportunity.

Yet for all Tottenham's good football, they had no reward to show for it - until, on 37 minutes, they took a deserved lead.

Campbell, on loan from Manchester United, sprinted on to a ball down the left and got to the byline before pulling the ball back to the edge of the six-yard area for Pavlyuchenko to sweep it through the legs of Liverpool keeper Diego Cavalieri.

Ryan Babel was yellow-carded for a show of dissent and Pavlyuchenko followed him into the book for an unnecessary late challenge on Daniel Agger by the touchline.

Spurs doubled their lead thanks to a comical mix-up as Brazilian Cavalieri came to collect a high Jamie O'Hara ball into the Liverpool area but, as Campbell chested the ball down, the keeper took both himself and Andrea Dossena out, leaving Campbell to roll the ball into the empty net. The young United striker was booked for celebrating with the crowd.

But he hardly cared as the mayhem continued with a third goal in six minutes, Campbell netting his second when O'Hara cut the ball back to Lennon on the left, whose cross eluded the entire, shambolic Liverpool defence, leaving the unmarked Campbell to head home.

Benitez presumably had a few points to make to his players at half-time, and early in the second-half the Reds wiped the smiles off a few Tottenham faces by capitalising on the trepidation of Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes at corners. The Brazilian only half-came for Babel's flag kick, got stranded in no-man's-land and saw Damien Plessis head home.

Three minutes later, though, Spurs re-established their three-goal lead. Didier Zokora stormed down the left wing at pace and sent in a cross that was deflected by Sami Hyypia into the path of Pavlyuchenko, who had the easiest of tasks to slot the ball into the net.

Another three minutes and there was Campbell heading the ball against the post, though he was flagged offside. Benitez responded by taking off top striker Torres for Emiliano Insua.

However, Gomes hadn't finished yet - and as Babel swung over another corner from the left, he again showed how not to deal with a cross, allowing Hyypia to climb high to head home for 4-2.

Five minutes later the hapless Gomes was in the thick of it again, this time showing great bravery as he raced from his line to dive low and deny Philipp Degen, taking a boot in the face as the pair collided. He needed a lot of treatment on the pitch before being stretchered off it. Cesar came on in his place for his first Spurs appearance.

The emerging potency of the Campbell - Pavlyuchenko partnership was underlined again when Campbell played the Russian through, and his shot was beaten away by Cavalieri.

Liverpool had a good shout for a penalty when Degen went down under Gareth Bale's challenge in the Spurs area, but referee Mike Riley wasn't having any of it.

Darren Bent came on for Campbell, who left the pitch to a standing ovation.

So holders Spurs march on, and Benitez is left to ponder the concept of strength in depth.
 
Tottenham: Gomes, Hutton, Dawson, Corluka, Bale, Lennon, Zokora, Huddlestone, O'Hara, Pavlyuchenko, Campbell. Subs: Cesar, Bentley, Bent, Modric, Gunter, Boateng, Rocha.

Liverpool: Cavalieri, Dossena, Hyypia, Agger, Degen, Babel, Leiva Lucas, Ngog, Plessis, Torres, El Zhar. Subs: Gulacsi, Riera, Alonso, Benayoun, Insua, Carragher, Darby.

Manchester United have been rocked by the news that veteran midfielder Paul Scholes could be sidelined for up to two months with a knee injury...

After netting his first goals for Manchester United last night, Dimitar Berbatov has insisted he "wasn't worried" at all by his mini-drought...

 

Prior to the Champions League clash against Aalborg, Berbatov had yet to score for United since joining them from Tottenham Hotspur on September 1. The Bulgarian striker's early showings as a Red Devil were decidedly lackadaisical, causing the fans to grow uneasy and whisper whether he was worth the £30.75million transfer fee. But there have been signs that the 27-year-old is beginning to hit his stride in the North West. He may not have got on the score-sheet against Bolton Wanderers at the weekend, but he thrilled the Old Trafford crowd with some fantastic flicks and delightful dribbling. And fears that Berbatov would become an expensive flop have begun to fade after he bagged a brace in United's 3-0 win in Denmark last night. "I wasn’t worried, I knew the goals would come sooner rather than later," the former Bayer Leverkusen player said in The Sun. "I’m pleased they came here but it was more important for the team to win." Berbatov will be looking to notch up his first league strike for United when they face Blackburn Rovers this weekend.

Salomon Kalou's header preserved Chelsea's four-and-a-half year unbeaten run in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge, after Park Ji-sung's early opener seemed set to give Manchester United victory.

The South Korean winger put the visitors in front in the 18th minute after Patrice Evra robbed Jose Bosingwa in the Chelsea box and squared for Dimitar Berbatov. The £32 million striker's tepid shot was pushed away by Petr Cech and Park slid the ball home.

The lead lasted over an hour until a Frank Lampard free kick was allowed to reach the United six-yard box where Blues substitute Salomon Kalou headed home.

Berbatov should have been marking Kalou but fingers will be pointed at substitute goalkeeper Tomas Kuszczak who should have collected the ball before the Chelsea forward nodded into the net from close range.

Like last week at Anfield, United started superbly but worrying for Sir Alex Ferguson's side they were again outplayed after taking the lead, despite the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo in the second half.

Chelsea were without the services of the star man of the season Deco and though his replacement Michael Ballack played very well, Chelsea missed the creativity of their player of the season so far and struggled to settle.

United created the first two chances, both involving Berbatov. First he, uncharacteristically chased back and won a ball which was fed wide to Owen Hargreaves and his low cross was met by Darren Fletcher who volleyed just wide of the target.

Then Cech came racing out of his box and only cleared as for as the United striker 40 yards out on the left wing and he tried to hook the ball with his wrong foot back over the Chelsea keeper but inadvertently he set up Rooney who couldn't steer his effort on target.

Moments later, Chelsea sprung into life and Joe Cole was through on goal but he flicked the ball wide of Edwin van der Sar with the outside of his right foot but just wide of the goal.

After the goal, Chelsea had the better of the play though they did not create a great deal of chances in the rest of the half.

From one of these half chances, Florent Malouda ran through on goal but after van der Sar came out to dive at his feet the Chelsea winger injured the United keeper and he was replaced by Kuszcak.

The Polish keeper was called upon to make one tough save, ten minutes before the interval, when he dived to his left to parry Alex's fierce long-range drive.

Joe Cole had a good chance just after the restart when Anelka squared to him in the box but he couldn't get any purchase on his sidefoot and United cleared.
 
Ten minutes after the break Ronaldo came onto the field and immediately showed the excitement he brings, prompting a flurry of United counter-attacks, and his frustrating side as he dived for a free kick under the close attention of Frank Lampard.

From then on he did little, but neither did any other attacking United player as the visitors were under siege.

Midway though the half Nicolas Anelka, whose place in the side is now under threat from the fit-again Didier Drogba who made his first appearance of the season as a half time substitute, had two chances to equalise, the first difficult, the second gilt-edged.

First, Bosingwa's cross came to Anelka on the volley at the front post but he did not connect with his effort.

Moments later, again from the right flank, Joe Cole put in a low cross that from no more than three yards out, went through the legs of the France international. The ball was admittedly travelling at some pace, but it was a chance any striker would be distraught to miss.

He was fortunate that Chelsea did not come to rue this, as Kalou's timely intervention brought the scores level.

Kalou had another chance in the closing stages but a desperate lunge from Gary Neville diverted the ball away from the target.

Sir Alex Ferguson is convinced that Real Madrid will once again come sniffing for Cristiano Ronaldo in the January transfer window, but is adamant that Manchester United will not let the Spanish champions get their mitts on the Portugal winger.

Ronaldo’s expected move to the Spanish capital dominated much of the summer transfer window, with the player himself consistently making noises that he wanted out.

United, led by a defiant Ferguson, dug their heels in and kept hold of their prized asset despite murmurings of a bid well in excess of the previous world record transfer fee of £46 million that Madrid paid for Zinedine Zidane.

"Real Madrid's interest in Cristiano will continue," Ferguson told the Daily Express.

"They didn't sign anyone in the summer. The coach Bernd Schuster went on holiday when they would not sign David Villa. He will be champing at the bit to get a big player in the summer so it's all going to happen again.

"Don't worry, it will all happen again in January.

"He has four years left on his contract. We are in the right position to dismiss Real Madrid."

Ronaldo is expected to return to United’s starting lineup for the first time since May’s Champions League final when they make the trip to face Chelsea on Sunday afternoon.

Ronaldo was unable to turn things around as a second-half substitute

Sir Alex Ferguson says his Manchester United team will soon return to form following their goalless draw with Villarreal in the Champions League.

Having collected just one win and four goals in six games, United face Premier League leaders Chelsea on Sunday.

"We are a bit short but the games will bring us on," said Ferguson.

"We will improve from now. We have a little bit to go yet. But once the sharpness of play comes, I am sure the goals will come as well."

It has been a lacklustre start to the season for the 2008 Champions League winners and Premier League champions.

They needed penalties to overcome Portsmouth in the Community Shield after a goalless draw, and drew 1-1 with Newcastle in their opening league game.

They won 1-0 away at Portsmouth but then lost 2-1 to Russian side Zenit St Petersburg in the Uefa Super Cup, followed by Saturday's 2-1 loss at Liverpool.

Former Manchester United defender Gary Pallister believes the first few results should be a source of concern for the Old Trafford hierarchy.

"They are simply not playing well enough," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"It was unusual for them to be outfought at Liverpool. It's the biggest game on the calendar for Manchester United and they usually put up a good fist of things down there.

"They were outfought on Saturday, they didn't manage to score again last night and the manager's said it's not been good enough."

Pallister is confident United will bounce back to form but said a poor start could prove very costly in the long run.

"What's happened with United over the last two seasons when they've won the Premier League - and obviously last year the Champions League - is they've started really well," he said.

"They've been fit and raring to go right from the start of the season."

He added: "It's unusual to see them have such a sluggish start. OK, (Cristiano) Ronaldo's not been there - and that's a huge miss for any team - but they've got to cope with that.

"They've got the likes of (Carlos) Tevez, (Wayne) Rooney, (Dimitar) Berbatov, they should be performing better right now."

Berbatov missed Tuesday's game against Villarreal because of injury as United failed to create many chances to at Old Trafford.

Their best effort came from Jonny Evans, whose late header hit a post.

However, Ferguson was satisfied with his team's performance and delighted with the return of Ronaldo, who was making his first appearance of the season as a second-half substitute.

Ronaldo has spent two months recovering from surgery but came on for the last 25 minutes against Villarreal.

Ferguson revealed the Portuguese winger was unlikely to start against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge but was delighted to have him back nonetheless.

"That was his first game back so it is a big ask to think about Sunday," said the 67-year-old Scot. "To come back like that, without a practice match or anything, the boy has done very well."

Berbatov, a £30.75m signing from Spurs on transfer deadline day, remains a doubt for the weekend with a knee injury.

"Dimitar has a chance for Sunday but it is too early to say for certain," said Ferguson.

The US Federal Reserve has announced an $85bn (£48bn) rescue package for AIG, the country's biggest insurance company, to save it from bankruptcy.

AIG will get an $85bn loan, in return for an 80% public stake in the firm.

The rescue follows the collapse of US investment giant Lehman Brothers, which caused share prices to plummet across the world's financial markets.

Authorities are hoping the bail-out will avert the threat of a global financial meltdown.

The Fed's move is viewed by some as the most radical intervention in private business in its history and has helped fuel a tentative rally on global stock markets.

The past few days have seen dramatic events unfold in the financial world:

• The UK's top mortgage lender HBOS is in merger talks with Lloyds TSB after a steep fall in HBOS shares

• The Fed and the US Treasury say AIG's bailout will protect the interests of US taxpayers
• US interest rates have been kept on hold despite widespread calls for a cut
• Barclays says it is buying some of the core assets of US investment bank Lehman Brothers for $1.75bn (£1bn)

'Challenging times'

The Federal Reserve made its decision about AIG "with the full support of the Treasury Department", it said in a statement, adding that the secured loan included conditions designed to protect "the interests of the US government and taxpayers".

The US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson refused to bail out America's fourth-largest investment bank Lehman Brothers after it filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday.

But he supported the rescue of AIG and said the move would protect taxpayers.

"These are challenging times for our financial markets," he said.

The rescue of AIG - which has a trillion dollars in assets and insures bank loans around the world - helped world stock markets rally.

Wednesday trading saw gains in Tokyo, Taiwan, Singapore and Seoul, though prices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Australia fell.

European markets were higher, but trading was volatile.

The dollar also rose against major currencies.

AIG's 'tentacles'

Analysts said the demise of AIG - which has policy holders in more than 100 countries and insures deals and investments across the globe - would have had a far greater impact on financial markets than Lehman's collapse.

These are challenging times for our financial markets US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson

Were the company to fail, many banks and investment funds around the world would lose their insurance cover at a time when defaults on payments are likely to rise.

The Governor of New York, David Paterson, said AIG had so many business interests it would be hard to predict how widespread its bankruptcy would have been felt.

"Its tentacles go further in to the avenues of business, as in mortgages, as in credit, as in hedge funds, as in countless ways that affect consumers, that affect drivers, that affect homeowners, affect passengers," he said.

AIG had posted losses in each of the last nine months.

It was badly affected by the collapse of the US housing market, says the BBC's business reporter Rob Young, owing to the underwriting payments it was forced to make when customers defaulted on their loans.

Market slump

The AIG plan calls for the government to seize up to 80% of the company and remove its management, in a similar fashion to the way it took control of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which were crippled by the US housing crisis.

AIG - KEY FACTS Employs 116,000 people in more than 100 countries Employs more than 2,000 people in the UK Founded in 1919 in Shanghai Now based in New York Sponsors Manchester United Sells insurance policies through Argos and Boots Source: AIG

The White House welcomed the package, saying the deal was made "in the interest of promoting stability in financial markets and limiting damage to the broader economy".

Meanwhile, the Fed has left interest rates unchanged at 2% despite calls for a cut. The BBC's Matthew Price in New York said the bank had decided an interest rate cut would not help to alleviate the short-term financial crisis.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones rallied on Tuesday, closing 141 points higher having on Monday suffered its worst day's trading since the September 2001 attacks on the US.

Central banks around the world responded by carrying out emergency measures to keep markets liquid.

The extra funding came as the interest rates at which banks lend to each other rocketed - as they did at the start of the credit crunch