By DPA,
London : Tottenham’s dramatic improvement under manager Harry Redknapp continued as they beat Liverpool 4-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup football tournament.
Chelsea too were dumped out of the competition Wednesday on penalties by Championship side Burnley.
Tottenham have won five and drawn one in their six games since Redknapp replaced Juande Ramos as manager two-and-a-half weeks ago.
They had already become the first team to beat Liverpool this season with a 2-1 league victory, but Wednesday night was even more dramatic.
Spurs had been on top in the first half without converting their domination into goals when they hit Liverpool with a burst of three goals in six minutes.
Roman Pavlyuchenko converted Fraizer Campbell’s 38th-minute cross, and then Campbell got two of his own.
The first came after a dreadful mix-up between goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri and defender Andrea Dossena, and the second from Aaron Lennon’s cross, as Dossena failed to pick him up.
Damien Plessis pulled one back in the 49th minute as Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes flapped at a corner, but Pavlyuchenko then added his second from a Didier Zokora cross.
Another Gomes blunder presented Sami Hyypia with Liverpool’s second, before the Brazilian was carried off with a head injury. Spurs regrouped after that and held their lead with relative comfort.
Chelsea enjoyed no such luxury. Didier Drogba put them ahead after 27 minutes, his first goal of the season, but Ade Akinbiyi levelled in the 69th minutes after Carlo Cudicini had saved a Chris Eagles effort.
After Franco Di Santo succumbed to a hamstring injury with all three substitutes already used, Chelsea ended the game with 10 men.
Steve Caldwell then picked up a second yellow card with five minutes remaining to make it 10-a-side.
Wayne Bridge missed Chelsea’s second kick, giving Wade Elliott a chance to win the game with Burnley’s fifth kick. But he skewed over to take the shoot-out to sudden death. Michael Duff scored for Burnley, and when Mikel John Obi’s effort was saved, Chelsea were out.
A Roque Santa Cruz strike and an own goal from Phil Bardsley set Blackburn on their way to a 2-1 victory over Sunderland in the night’s other tie.