The first round of the Carling Cup gets underway this week and there are two stand-out fixtures on Tuesday evening which sees local bragging rights up for grabs in addition to a place in round two as Leeds host Bradford and Nottingham Forest and Notts County go head-to-head at the City Ground.

The new Football League campaign has not yet started but League Two new boys Crawley Town and AFC Wimbledon have been called back early on Friday evening to scrap it out for a place in the first round of the Carling Cup.

Arsene Wenger admitted in the aftermath of Arsenal’s dramatic, last-gasp Carling Cup final reverse against Birmingham on Sunday that some of his players were “destroyed” by the nature of the 2-1 defeat. However, the Gunners can still enjoy what would surely rank as their finest-ever season if they managed to win an amazing treble of Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup titles (100/1).

The Carling Cup has been much maligned by football supporters in its history, but things have changed in recent seasons and the clash between Arsenal and Birmingham City (4pm) is an intriguing battle of differing styles.

Ask Arsenal supporters what their favourite moments of Arsene Wenger’s reign are and you might get a few different answers. Beating Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in 2006, winning the title at White Hart Lane or Sylvain Wiltord’s league-winning goal at Old Trafford might all come up.

With the weekend fast approaching you might be thinking about what your plans are to occupy those days off before the dreaded return to work on Monday morning. As usual, sport will more than likely form a big part of the weekend and we have picked out what we feel are the top five bets to hopefully increase your beer funds over the next two days.

Sir Alex Ferguson feels the way his Manchester United players stormed back from two-down to win 3-2 at Blackpool on Tuesday evening could be the defining moment in this season’s Premier League title race. However, with 15 games still remaining, can any club overhaul the Red Devils at the top of the table?

Ipswich head to the Emirates on Tuesday holding a narrow 1-0 lead over Arsenal in the Carling Cup semi following the first leg, but very few people are giving them a chance of making it to Wembley (Ipswich to win in 90 minutes – 20/1).

If Blackpool stay in the Premier League this season, Luke Varney will be the man the fans will point two as the key figure – even if he doesn’t play anymore games (check out totesport football outright and match betting markets)!

West Brom (Evens in the match betting) head to Ipswich in great heart after a 4-1 win over Everton at Goodison Park – following a performance manager Roberto Di Matteo described as ‘incredible’ – and should end the Championship’s final hope of lifting the Carling Cup (Ipswich 5/2 to win, 12/5 the draw) – providing the weather holds up.