Portsmouth 2 - 4 Aston Villa (Carling Cup)

Goals from Heskey, Milner, Downing, and Young negated an early own goal from Stiliyan Petrov, as Aston Villa bested Portsmouth in a critical Carling Cup quarterfinal. Stewart Downing scored in his first start for the club, a rebound header that give the Villans an assuring 3 - 1 lead at the time. Villa moves on to play Blackburn in the semifinals on January 5th, at home in Villa Park, but not before taking on Hull City later today.