Villa and Birmingham to meet in League Cup

Manchester United and Arsenal were kept apart as the League Cup quarter-final draw was made on Saturday with Aston Villa pitted against bitter rivals Birmingham in the tie of the round.

United, bidding to win the trophy for the third year in a row, will travel to Upton Park to take on West Ham for a place in the last four while Arsenal face Wigan at home.

The pick of the last-eight matches will be when Gerard Houllier’s Villa face local rivals Birmingham at St Andrews.

Birmingham squeezed into the quarter-finals after beating League One side Brentford on penalties.

Villa, who reached the final of the competition last season, needed extra-time to defeat Burnley in midweek.

In the other tie of the round, in-form West Bromwich Albion face Championship side Ipswich, the only team from outside the Premier League left in the competition.