League Cup: Tottenham thrash Burnley

Tottenham Hotspur celebrated the return of England striker Jermaine Defoe on Tuesday by romping to a 4-1 semi-final first leg League Cup win over Burnley.

Defoe, who spent four years at Spurs before moving to Portsmouth a year ago, was presented to home fans before the match in which the hosts had to come from behind to take a big advantage to Turf Moor for the second leg in two weeks time.

The championship (second division) side took the lead through Martin Paterson on 15 minutes but two goals in six minutes and two more two minutes later in the second half effectively settled the tie.

The visitors struck in a first half they thoroughly dominated when former Manchester United forward Chris Eagles beat two men on the right and expertly picked out top scorer Paterson for an easy back post finish.

The Premier League strugglers were booed off at halftime but returned to draw level almost immediately when defender Michael Dawson headed substitute Jamie O'Hara's corner home on 47 minutes.

Burnley, who had conceded only once in five previous rounds and were without suspended Scotland defender and captain Steven Caldwell went behind six minutes later when O'Hara's volley squirmed under the body of the floundering Brian Jensen.

Roman Pavlyuchenko glided past Clarke Carlisle and finished exquisitely to continue his run of scoring in each round on 65 minutes.

Burnley, victors over three other top flight London clubs Fulham, Chelsea and Arsenal on their way to the last four, conceded again within two minutes when Northern Ireland defender Michael Duff headed another O'Hara set-piece into his own net.

Premier League champions Manchester United travel to Derby County, who earlier appointed Nigel Clough as their new manager, in the other semi-final, first leg on Wednesday.