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Carabao Cup second-round draw: Chelsea, Spurs among 11 top-flight sides entering

Becky Hart2 min read
Carabao Cup second-round draw: Chelsea, Spurs among 11 top-flight sides entering

Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur discover their Carabao Cup second-round opponents on Monday evening, joining nine other Premier League clubs who enter English football’s secondary cup competition a round earlier than usual this season.

The draw takes place on Monday 10 August, with a start time of approximately 7.20pm BST, and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports ahead of the Devon derby between Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City at Home Park. Sky Sports presenter David Prutton will host proceedings, with pundits Jobi McAnuff and Jamie Mackie conducting the draw, which remains regionalised into northern and southern sections.

Chelsea and Spurs pay the price for a lack of Europe

Chelsea’s 10th-place finish and Tottenham’s 17th in last season’s Premier League mean neither club has European football this term, forcing both London sides into the Carabao Cup at the second-round stage rather than their more customary later entry point. Xabi Alonso, in his first full season at Stamford Bridge, will be eyeing an early route to silverware, while Spurs arrive in the draw having only narrowly avoided relegation in 2025/26.

They are joined by nine further top-flight clubs entering at this stage: Brentford, Fulham, Newcastle United, Everton, Leeds United, Nottingham Forest, and newly promoted trio Coventry City, Ipswich Town and Hull City. The nine Premier League clubs competing in the Champions League, Europa League or Conference League this season are exempt until the third round, as is usual.

A revamped opening weekend

This season’s competition has a notably different look, with the first round played predominantly across a weekend rather than the traditional midweek slot, and getting under way before the EFL campaign proper had even begun. The change is designed to ease fixture congestion, sparing clubs the previous demand of three matches in a single week so early in the season.

Fourth-tier Walsall provided the shock of the opening round, beating Championship side Bristol City 1-0 at Ashton Gate on Thursday, while Crawley Town and Rochdale had already come through preliminary-round ties against York City and Tranmere Rovers respectively to reach the first round. Other notable first-round fixtures include West Ham United’s meeting with Portsmouth and a clash of Championship promotion hopefuls at the Riverside Stadium, where Middlesbrough host Wrexham.

In total, 35 first-round winners will progress to join the 11 Premier League sides in Monday’s second-round draw. Manchester City go into the new campaign as holders of the trophy, having lifted the Carabao Cup last term.

Read more: Liverpool and Leeds meet in Chicago as pre-season US tour reaches its finale

Sources

  • Evening Standard
  • The Independent

This is an independent report written from the facts across the sources named above.

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