Carling Cup predictions

Pic from: BBC Sport

Birmingham 3 - 1 Brentford
Ipswich 2 - 0 Northampton
Leicester 2 - 3 West Brom (AET)
Man Utd 3 - 1 Wolves
Wigan 0 - 1 Swansea
Newcastle 1 - 2 Arsenal
Aston Villa 2- 1 Burnley
West Ham 1 - 0 Stoke

Right, Carling Cup predictions for tonight (26/10). I'm sticking my neck out with a few of these but I've gone with my gut. Northampton Town slayed the mighty Liverpool in the last round, a fantastic result, but I don't think they can repeat it tonight. Ipswich have lost four of their last five league games and I think Roy Keane will have them fired up for this one.

Swansea are a great team under Brendan Rodgers and currently lie third in the Championship. Wigan are always inconsistent and are in for a tough game, Scott Sinclair has proved to be a great signing for Swansea and I can see them sneaking this one.

Leicester have won, drawn and lost in Sven's first three games in charge, new signings will take time to settle and the team are still finding their feet under their new manager. I think they'll be competitive tonight but West Brom are flying high at the minute and I think they'll prove too much for a valiant Leicester in extra time.

Holders Man United are at home to Wolves, Fergie will put the reserves out for this one but Wolves are really struggling at the minute and I think United will run out comfortable winners here. Birmingham eased past MK Dons at home in the last round and I think they'll be comfortable against lower league opposition again tonight.

Arsenal's young guns face a trip to St James' Park on Wednesday in another intriguing encounter. Buoyed by their win at West Ham after some indifferent form the Toon will fancy this one but we all know how good Wenger's youngsters are. I think the Gunners will take this one but it could go either way.

West Ham were awful in the second half against Newcastle at the weekend and are really struggling in the league. But as always that form won't necessarily transpire into this game. Stoke have spent big but their defence is looking shaky for the first time since they've been in the Premier League. I just think West Ham will win this one and I can't think of any solid reason other than Avram Grant guiding Portsmouth to the FA Cup final last year.

Villa have looked a lot more solid under Houllier and I think they'll see off Burnley tomorrow in a close encounter. Burnley's team hasn't changed, particularly the defence, and they really struggled away from home in the Premier League last year.

What does the future hold for Rooney?

Pic from: Sydney Morning Herald

Wayne Rooney's dramatic week ended with a him signing a new five-year deal, United will be delighted their best player is staying put, but what next for the 25 year-old? What were the incentives behind this incredible U-turn after he seemed so desperate to leave.

It appears Rooney became disillusioned and began questioning the direction of the club after the departure of Ronaldo and Tevez two seasons ago. Rooney claims he was promised new players would arrive but poaching Antonio Valencia from Wigan was perhaps not quite what he had in mind. As good as Valencia is, he's no Ronaldo.

You can understand Rooney's concerns particularly as United's golden generation are close to retirement. Losing the likes of Scholes, Giggs, Neville and Van der Sar in the next two years is a distinct possibility and replacing players of this calibre isn't easy, and certainly not cheap. Yet Rooney must have been assured that world class players will arrive in the near future for him to put pen to paper. But do the Glazer's have the financial power to lure players like Sneijder to the red-half of Manchester? Debts of around £750m suggest not.

Inevitably people believe Rooney simply wanted more money and was just being greedy. But I believe he panicked at the prospect of being caught at a club in decline. The transfer window saw the arrival of three young players but no 'big' names. Perhaps losing the battle to sign Mesut Ozil showed that the lure of United has faded somewhat.