Carling Cup 25 & 26 Sept

Generally in the Carling Cup you need to assume that the big Premiership clubs will put out a reserve side and that they will be poor value in every game they play on the handicap until the semi finals. I also don't much like betting on the competition until I have detailed team news, which makes these previews quite hard.

Tuesday's games

Arsenal will almost certainly put out a below par side against Newcastle but they should not be opposed because the club has so much confidence at the moment and they have sold all 60,000 seats tonight so will have a strong crowd support.

A better bet is to oppose Liverpool who surely will not care about this competition. By contrast this is Reading's only real chance of silverwear and I suspect they will want to win a great deal more. With a 1/2 point start at home, Reading are worth a one point bet at 1.97.

[Liverpool won 4-2]

Wednesday's games

If I had to have a value bet on the outright winner of the Carling Cup I would back Aston Villa at 17.00 (16/1) but they are no value tonight with a one goal handicap and there is actually little value on any of the teams. It is possible that Middlesborough are a bet with a 3/4 goal start against a Spurs side that has plenty of problems but it is hardly rock solid punting material and I am happy to leave that game alone, as well as all the others tonight.