That draw being made live on SKY Sports this evening after Wolverhampton Wanderers had won 3-1 at Northampton Town in the final second round tie to complete the 32 clubs taking part in round three. United coming out 25th in the draw with the good news being that Spurs were drawn out next to give Carlisle what will surely be an excellent financial windfall, as well as perhaps a televised tie.
Over the years United have only faced Tottenham seven times, with two of those matches actually coming in a two-legged second round Coca-Cola cup tie in the 1997-98 season. United losing 3-2 at White Hart Lane in the first leg, Neale Fenn scoring for Spurs in the opening minute before Andy Couzens and Warren Aspinall netted for the Blues on 40 and 45 minutes respectively to give Carlisle a surprise 2-1 lead.
The home side though grabbing two late goals through Ruel Fox on 73 minutes and then Paul Mahorn five minutes later to give the Lilywhites a one goal lead to bring to Brunton Park. 13,571 fans were inside the ground then for the second leg, but United couldn't overturn their narrow deficit as Tottenham won 2-0 on the night, and therefore 5-2 on aggregate, with David Ginola scoring with a 43rd minute penalty before Chris Armstrong then netted on 51 minutes.
United meanwhile won 1-0 against Spurs in their first home game of the 1974-75 Division One season thanks to a Chris Balderstone penalty, with the only other two games played between the sides at Brunton Park coming in the FA Cup. Carlisle losing 3-1 in 1971-72 in a third round replay after drawing 1-1 at White Hart Lane, Dennis Martin being the scorer of United's consolation goal in Cumbria.
Carlisle also losing at home to Spurs the previous season in the 1970-71 campaign, this time in the fourth round and by a scoreline of 3-2, Martin finding the net again, while Bobby Owen also got himself on the United scoresheet. Finally on past games, away from home United have played two other games at Spurs, drawing both of them 1-1, Owen scoring in the 74-75 league game, while Stan Bowles found the net in the initial 71-72 third round FA Cup tie.
This time around though the third round Capital One Cup tie is scheduled to take place in the week commencing 24th September, and with Spurs having a home Premier League 4pm kick-off against QPR on Sunday 23rd they'll either be on the end of a quick turn-around or perhaps even a Wednesday evening match, although with a trip to Manchester United looming for them the following Saturday you would expect them to want a longer break ahead of that game.
Elsewhere in the draw meanwhile it looked like all the big guns had come out early on with the two Manchester clubs, Sunderland and Liverpool all disappearing in the first four ties, with Sunderland also on the road to League One opposition as they take on MK Dons away. Television-wise Manchester United v Newcastle United looks a stick on but there's not a vast amount that stands out bar that, so Carlisle could have a chance of a televised tie as well, here's hoping.
Capital One Cup Round Three Draw
Manchester United v Newcastle United
Manchester City v Aston Villa
MK Dons v Sunderland
West Bromwich Albion v Liverpool
Crawley Town v Swansea City
Queens Park Rangers v Reading
Norwich City v Doncaster Rovers
Bradford City v Burton Albion
Preston North End v Middlesbrough
Arsenal v Coventry City
Southampton v Sheffield Wednesday
Chelsea v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Carlisle United v Tottenham Hostpur
Swindon Town v Burnley
West Ham United v Wigan Athletic
Leeds United v Everton
*Ties will be played during the week commencing Monday 24th September 2012.