Can you even call yourself a big club if you have to play in the second round of the EFL Cup? No doubt the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and the two big Manchester sides are enjoying the fact that London duo Chelsea and Spurs are not involved in European football this year. That pair joined the rest of the rank and file members of the Premier League in being in the hat for the second round draw of this season’s Carabao Cup.
While a whopping nine top-tier teams gain automatic entry to the third round of the competition due to their involvement in the Champions, Europa and Europa Conference Leagues, 11 join the 35 EFL winners from the first round. That gives us 46 teams in the second round and 23 ties to enjoy.
Those games will be played between the 25th and 27th of August, immediately after the first round of the Premier League. Fans of Spurs and the Blues will miss European nights but it could help them enjoy a much better season in the league. While they have to contend with one extra round of the League Cup, their key rivals for the top places in 2026/27 will have far more games to deal with in their respective European competitions.
Home Draws for the Big Boys
Leaving aside the bigger picture of the 2026/27 Premier League, let us return to the second round draw of this season’s EFL Cup. The final will take place on the 21st of March and, as always, will see the first piece of silverware of the campaign won. There is a long way to go before then of course, but both Spurs and Chelsea will fancy their chances of progressing to the third round.
Both got home draws and both avoided a PL rival. The competition is geographically divided at this early stage to minimise travel for supporters and clubs. Obviously the two London giants are in the southern section and they both managed to avoid the other Premier League clubs: Brentford, Fulham, Ipswich, Coventry City and, of course, each other.
Chelsea will face Luton Town, with Spurs involved in a north v south London derby against Charlton Athletic. The Hatters are down in the third tier, so in theory Chelsea have got the easier task, with Charlton in the Championship.
Betting on these games, or even simply predicting the results for fun, is a tricky task because one can never be sure how strong a team the managers will field. Even so, Chelsea are very strong favourites and such is the strength in depth of their huge squad, odds of 2/5 look generous.
Spurs, who will have a few injuries to deal with and do not have such a deep squad, will be available at bigger odds, although the bookies are yet to publish their prices for this game. At this early point in the new campaign, players should be fresh and managers may decide they want to use these games to really sharpen up the fitness of their better players. With both Chelsea and Spurs not having to manage their resources across European football, we would not be surprised to see Xabi Alonso and Roberto De Zerbi field strong XIs – although we can never be sure.
Other Ties to Look Out For
It was an uninspiring draw, truth be told, with nothing to get too excited about. Nottingham Forest host Leeds in their opening Premier League fixture of the season on Saturday the 22nd of August. Just a few days after that they will welcome them back to the City Ground for the only all-PL clash of the second round.
Elsewhere Preston North End might fancy an upset against an Everton side who have never won the EFL Cup. It will be a return to his first managerial stomping ground for David Moyes, who earnt his first opportunity at Everton through his excellent work with Preston.
Other possible banana skins include Birmingham v Brentford, Stoke v Hull and Sheffield Wednesday v Wolves. That said, with lineups highly unclear, it is too early to be making any bold predictions. The good news is that whatever game you fancy watching, all matches will be broadcast on one of the many Sky Sports channels.
Outright Odds
Unsurprisingly the bookies are predicting that one of the top sides will once again lift the EFL Cup. Arsenal are favourites at 4/1, followed by Man City, Liverpool, Man United, Chelsea and then Spurs. Tottenham are 12/1 but the others are tightly packed between 6/1 and 8/1.
Since Swansea won in 2013, only once has one of the six clubs above not lifted the EFL Cup. That was when Newcastle upset Liverpool 2-1 in the final in 2025. In this period, City have won seven times, Man United and Liverpool two each and Chelsea once. The Gunners have only ever won the EFL Cup twice, doing so last in 1993, with Tottenham boasting four wins, the most recent of which was in 2008.
Editor