The Premier League big guns involved in European competition are about to discover their opening Carabao Cup opponents of the season. Following Tuesday night’s action, the second round concludes with the four remaining ties on Wednesday evening.
They include Manchester United’s trip to League Two Grimsby Town and Everton’s home clash with Mansfield Town of League One. The Red Devils have entered the competition a round earlier than normal after failing to qualify for Europe due to their wretched 2024/25 campaign.
A number of top-flight clubs have already fallen by the wayside, including West Ham and Bournemouth, who lost their all-Premier League ties. Meanwhile, Leeds United and Sunderland were on the end of upsets after losing on penalties to crisis club Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town, respectively. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the draw...
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When is the Carabao Cup third round draw?The draw will take place during Sky Sports' coverage of the Grimsby vs Man United tie, which kicks off at 8pm. The night’s other games see Mansfield visit Everton’s new stadium, Fulham host Bristol City and Brighton travel to Oxford United.
How to watch the Carabao Cup third round drawIt will be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football in the UK and Ireland. While those who do subscribe to Sky can alternatively watch on Sky Go and NOW TV, the draw will also be broadcast live for free on the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel.
The third round draw will see Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace enter the competition.
They will be joined by Burnley, Wolves and Brentford, who came through their second round ties, with Man United, Everton, Fulham and Brighton looking to join them in the third round. From this round, the draw is no longer regionalised into northern and southern sections.
When will the Carabao Cup third round be played?The third round fixtures will be spread across two weeks due to Champions League and Europa League clashes. The first set of games will be played in the week commencing September 15, with the rest falling in the week beginning September 22.
For the main draw, two separate bowls will be used, one consisting of the eight clubs playing in the Champions League and Europa League and one consisting of the remaining 24 clubs. If Palace come through their Europa Conference League play-off, their first match wouldn’t be until October, so they would not face any potential clash.
As the balls will be split across two pots, a pre-draw will be required first to determine whether each of the eight UCL/UEL teams will be playing home or away.
For the main draw, the first eight ties will be drawn by alternating between one club from bowl one and one club from bowl two, with the home/away positioning of the UCL/UEL team already pre-determined in the earlier draw.
Once the first eight ties featuring the UCL/UEL teams have been drawn, the remaining eight ties will then be drawn from bowl two only.
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