LONDON — Manchester United fielded a defense boasting only two first-team appearances but still proved too good for Premier League rival Newcastle United with a 2-1 win in the League Cup third round at Old Trafford Wednesday. Holder Liverpool also rang the changes and came from behind at West Bromwich Albion to win 2-1 thanks to two goals from Nuri Sahin. Tottenham Hotspur beat Carlisle 3-0 and its north London rivals Arsenal strutted into the last 16 with a 6-1 drubbing of third tier Coventry City. United made 11 changes from the team that started against Liverpool in the Premier League Sunday with Wayne Rooney returning after injuring his leg four weeks ago and midfielder Darren Fletcher making his first start for 10 months. With a string of defensive injuries, manager Alex Ferguson turned to youth with Alex Buttner, Marnick Vermijl, Scott Wootton and Will Keane tasked with keeping the Newcastle forwards at bay. “Newcastle had a stronger team than us physically. We played fantastic football and I think we deserved it,” United manager Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports. Reading came from 2-1 down to beat Queens Park Rangers 3-2 in an all-Premier League match and Norwich City won 1-0 at home to Doncaster. United vs. Chelsea Manchester United was handed a trip to Chelsea in Wednesday's League Cup fourth round draw, while holder Liverpool will host Swansea. Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers will take on his former club Swansea. Arsenal travels to Premier League new-boys Reading, while Tottenham also faces top-flight opponent as it visits Norwich. Leeds' reward for its shock win over Everton Tuesday is a home clash with Southampton, while Sunderland hosts Middlesbrough in a north-east derby. Falcao scores 2 Atletico Madrid won 4-2 at nine-man Real Betis to rise to second place in the Spanish league Wednesday, with Radamel Falcao scoring a double to become the leading scorer in the competition this season. Falcao's goals puts him one ahead of Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, while Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo has only scored three times so far. The match was originally scheduled for Sept. 3 but was pushed back due to Atletico's appearance in the European Super Cup. Now both teams face a quick turnaround, with Betis playing at Malaga Saturday and Atletico at Espanyol Sunday. Cavani hits hat trick Edinson Cavani scored a hat-trick to lead Napoli to a 3-0 win over Lazio Wednesday after the visitors had an early goal disallowed when Miroslav Klose owned up to handling the ball. Stephan El Shaaraway scored AC Milan's first home goals of the season in all competitions to give it a 2-0 win over Cagliari. Inter Milan won by the same score at Chievo while Francesco Totti, one day short of his 36th birthday, scored for AS Roma, which let slip a lead at home for the second match running and drew 1-1 with promoted Sampdoria. Promoted Pescara won its first game, Slovakia forward Vladimir Weiss scoring in the 86th minute as it beat hapless Palermo 1-0. Marco Boriello missed one penalty, but converted a second in the 88th minute to give Genoa a 1-1 draw at home to Parma. Hannover climbs to 3rd place Didier Ya Konan scored twice to help Hannover climb to third place in the Bundesliga with a 4-1 win over Nuremberg Wednesday. Hamburger SV was denied its second straight win when 10-man Borussia Moenchengladbach snatched a goal in injury time to earn a 2-2 draw at home. Stuttgart went down 3-0 at home to Hoffenheim, and Augsburg lost 3-1 at home to Bayer Leverkusen. Freiburg also lost at home, going down 2-1 to Werder Bremen. — Agencies
