Premier League strugglers West Ham United suffered a humiliating home defeat in the third round of the English League Cup on Wednesday when they were beaten 1-0 at home by second division Oldham Athletic on a night of shocks.Arsenal, fielding a virtual reserve side, led Sunderland 2-0 at Highbury but lost 3-2, while first division Sheffield United scored twice in the last two minutes to beat Yorkshire rivals Leeds United 2-1.Last season’s runners-up Tottenham Hotspur also went out, losing 2-1 at Burnley, while fellow first-division side Ipswich Town claimed another Premier League scalp with a 3-1 home win over Middlesbrough.Defending champions Blackburn Rovers edged past first division strugglers Walsall on penalties after a 2-2 draw at Ewood Park. Everton also got through on a shoot-out after a 3-3 draw with Newcastle United at St James’ Park, while Liverpool, winners in 2000, beat Southampton 3-1 at Anfield.The dream ended for the two remaining third division clubs as Oxford lost 3-0 at home to Aston Villa and Bury lost 3-1 at Fulham. The woe continued for West Ham manager Glenn Roeder, whoseteam have won just three games in the Premier League and none at home.Roeder put out a full-strength side but they created very little in another disappointing display.Oldham, flying high in second place in division two and unbeaten away in the league, got the only goal three minutes before halftime when Canada striker Carlo Corazzin powered a header from a corner past England goalkeeper David James.Goals for Robert Pires and striker Francis Jeffers had a virtual Arsenal reserve team two up at the break against Sunderland. The visitors, also playing an unfamiliar line-up, pulled one back through Kevin Kyle in the 56th minute and Marcus Stewart levelled with a 70th-minute header.Two minutes later defender Darren Williams scored with a bullet header to hand Arsenal their fifth defeat in six games. Blackburn took a first-half lead at home to Walsall with a Corrado Grabbi penalty but Zigor Aranalde equalised for the first division side with another penalty the 67th minute.The game went into extra time when Australia striker David Zdrilic raised Walsall’s hopes only for an Ian Roper own goal to take the game to penalties. Blackburn won the shoot-out 5-4.A Steve Yates own goal gave Leeds the lead after 24 minutes at Bramall Lane but Phil Jagielka equalised for Sheffield United with a spectacular 30 metre effort in the 90th minute. Peter Ndlovu stunned under-pressure Leeds boss Terry Venables by scrambling in the winner seconds later."We lost the lead through one of the best strikes I’ve ever seen," said Venables. "Scoring again at the end was a bigger blow." Gus Poyet headed Spurs into a 17th minute lead but Robbie Blake got a deserved equaliser in the 57th and Steve Davis headed Burnley’s winner three minutes later.Ireland striker Robbie Keane missed a hat-trick of great chances for Spurs when clean through then crashed a spectacular volley from 25 metres against the bar in injury time. But Burnley held out to collect a famous victory in the 100th meeting of the clubs. "We didn’t deserve anything tonight, Burnley were the better side," said Spurs boss Glenn Hoddle. (Reuters)
