Latest Carabao Cup draw has two exciting London derby games

Carabao Cup draw

The Carabao Cup draw has interesting ties for Premier League teams, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur headlining attractive ties in the second round.

The Premier League season is yet to start, but the early start of the EFL season means that the Carabao Cup, the football league’s long-standing League Cup, has just finished its first round. Now the teams from the Premier League that are not involved in European club competitions join in. This includes teams that have been past winners of the trophy.

The draw took place on Wednesday evening after the last few games of the opening round had finished. The first round saw a few upsets, as is normally the way, as some teams higher up the leagues rotate their teams in a bid to keep their strongest players healthy for what they would see as more important games in the league. At this stage, the draw is split into North and South regions.

Local derbies

The Carabao Cup draw also made two all-Premiership ties as Nottingham Forest host newly promoted Burnley, and Fulham take on London rivals Tottenham Hotspur. One of the best matches that were drawn is that of big-spending Chelsea welcoming close neighbours AFC Wimbledon of League Two. The southwest London side staged a late comeback on Wednesday to knock out Coventry City, who were the losers in last season’s Championship playoff final.

Tricky ties

Another tie to look out for is Everton’s away trip to Doncaster Rovers, which is a potential upset. Other matches involving Premier League sides are Wolverhampton Wanderers v Blackpool, Sheffield United v Lincoln City, Plymouth Argyle v Crystal Palace, Luton Town v Gillingham, Swansea City v Bournemouth and Newport County v Brentford.

The ties are to be held in the week starting 28 August, with the remainder of the top-flight teams entering the competition in the next round.