Sunderland began life after Paolo Di Canio with a comfortable Capital One Cup victory over Peterborough as Tottenham thrashed Aston Villa and Manchester City romped to a 5-0 victory against Wigan.
There were also third round victories for Chelsea, Southampton, West Ham, Fulham, Hull City, Norwich, Leicester and Burnley on a busy night of cup football.
Sunderland caretaker boss Kevin Ball oversaw a 2-0 victory at home to Peterborough thanks to goals from Emanuele Giaccherini and Valentin Roberge, with the recalled Lee Cattermole excellent in midfield.
Chelsea enjoyed a routine 2-0 success at Swindon as Jose Mourinho turned to a number of the fringe players in his star-studded squad, with Juan Mata setting up Fernando Torres before substitute Ramires, on for the injured Marco van Ginkel, struck again before the interval.
Manchester City destroyed Wigan 5-0 in a repeat of last season's FA Cup final with Edin Dzeko opening the scoring before the floodgates opened with Stevan Jovetic bagging a second-half brace and Yaya Toure and Jesus Navas also on target.