LONDON, Aug 24: Four Premier League clubs, including all three newly promoted sides, were knocked out of the English League Cup in the second round on Tuesday.

Norwich were thrashed 4-0 at home by League One leaders MK Dons and QPR also lost at home to opponents from English football’s third tier, going down 2-0 to Rochdale at Loftus Road.

And there was no joy for Swansea either following a 3-1 defeat away to League Two outfit Shrewsbury.

Meanwhile, established top-flight side Sunderland saw their dreams of League Cup glory ended with a 1-0 extra-time loss away to Championship high-flyers Brighton.

Norwich manager Paul Lambert, showing what he thought of the League Cup, changed all 11 of his starting line-up and his Canaries were 2-0 down at half-time following goals from former Norwich player Luke Chadwick and Sam Baldock.

Chadwick’s second came on the hour mark before Daniel Powell made it 4-0 seven minutes later.

Rochdale gave QPR early warning as Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro scored from a rebound after five minutes and Gary Jones made it 2-0 with nine minutes left thanks to a superb shot into the top left-hand corner.

Swansea did at least take the lead, albeit through a Shane Cansdell-Sherrif own-goal but Marvin Morgan, hero of the Shrews’ victory over Derby in the first round, equalised midway through the first half. Mark Wright scored in the 67th minute and Nicky Wroe sealed victory late on.

Sunderland became the fourth Premier League team to go out on Tuesday when Brighton’s Craig Mackail-Smith headed in a 96th minute winner to leave the visiting fans who’d made the trip down to the south coast with nothing to show for their journey from the north-east.

Aston Villa struggled against Hereford until 10 minutes from time before goals from Eric Lichaj and Nathan Delfouneso sealed a 2-0 victory.

But Midlands top-flight rivals West Brom and Wolves had an easier time of it, courtesy of 4-1 and 4-0 wins over Bournemouth and Northampton respectively.

Results (Premier League unless stated, numerals denote division):

First round: Charlton Athletic (III) 2    Reading (II) 1 Crystal Palace (II) 2    Crawley Town (IV) 0

Second round: AFC Bournemouth (III) 1    West Bromwich Albion 4 Aston Villa 2    Hereford United (IV) 0 Bury (III) 2    Leicester City (II) 4 Doncaster Rovers (II) 1    Leeds United (II) 2 Millwall (II) 2    Morecambe (IV) 0 Northampton Town (IV) 0    Wolverhampton Wanderers 4 Norwich City 0    Milton Keynes Dons FC (III) 4 QPR 0    Rochdale (III) 2 Shrewsbury Town (IV) 3    Swansea City 1 Wycombe Wanderers (III) 1    Nottingham Forest (II) 4 Burnley (II) 3    Barnet (IV) 2 Cardiff City (II) 5    Huddersfield Town (III) 3 Brighton (II) 1    Sunderland 0 Bristol Rovers (IV) 1    Watford (II) 1 (Bristol Rovers win 4-2 on penalties).—Reuters