Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea all bypassed the first two rounds of the Carabao Cup (Image: Getty)
The Carabao Cup will be in full flow after the Premier League’s big hitters enter the fold in next month’s third round. The seven top-flight sides who qualified for the Champions League, Europa League or Europa Conference League this season were permitted to bypass the first two rounds of fixtures.
Only 32 teams will be in the hat when the third-round draw is made, consisting of the 25 sides who won their second-round showdowns, and the seven European qualifiers.
A new-look draw system is being deployed this season, with teams split into two bowls. Bowl 1 will include Champions League and Europa League clubs Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Tottenham and Manchester United.
Bowl 2 will comprise everyone else, including Europa Conference League qualifiers Chelsea. A pre-draw will be made to determine the home or away positioning of the six clubs in Bowl 1 for the first six matches in the third-round fixture list.
The main draw will then commence with those first six ties, which will be selected by picking one team from Bowl 1 and one from Bowl 2. The remaining 10 games will be contested by teams only in Bowl 2.
And in another format change, the third round of the Carabao Cup will be played acros two midweeks (w/c September 16 and w/c/ September 23) due to the hectic new European schedule.
The Carabao Cup is up for grabs again following Liverpool’s triumph in 2023/24 (Image: Getty)
When is the Carabao Cup third-round draw?
The pre-draw, made only to determine the home or away positioning of the six Bowl 1 teams when they are picked in the main draw, is scheduled to take place before Nottingham Forest’s clash with Newcastle United, which kicks off at 8pm (BST) on Wednesday, August 28.
The main draw will take place after that match, hosted by Mark Chapman, with an estimated start time of 10.15pm (BST).
Viewers can watch the Carabao Cup third-round draw on Sky Sports Main Event or Sky Sports Football. It is also expected to be streamed for free on Sky Sports Football’s YouTube channel. Ball numbers for the draw will be announced on Wednesday morning.
A number of tasty second-round clashes will take place this week including Crystal Palace vs Norwich City, Wolves vs Burnley, West Ham vs Bournemouth and Forest against the Magpies.
Source: https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1940871/carabao-cup-third-round-draw-man-utd-arsenal-chelsea