Key events
All the games are under way now apart from Spurs-City, which starts at 8.15.
Man United 0-0 Leicester Ruud van Nistelrooy gets a thunderous reception, or perhaps it’s for his long black coat. And the whistle goes.
If you’d rather concentrate on tonight’s biggest game, do join Daniel Harris for the build-up.
Brighton 0-0 Liverpool Jason Steele is living dangerously again. The commentator doesn’t know how it’s not 0-1 and neither do I. His defenders, perhaps trying to make him feel better, do something similar themselves. In between times, though, Brighton are snapping at Liverpool’s heels.
“Good to see,” says Justin Kavanagh, “that Van Nistelrooy has opted for a probable 4-2-3-1 in place of the more usual (of late) 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1. Let’s hope the optimism for some kind of newfound cohesion works out for him.”
Brighton 0-0 Liverpool This one seems unlikely to stay goalless for long. Jason Steele very nearly presents Liverpool with a goal as he plays out perilously from the back.
Brighton 0-0 Liverpool Arne Slot’s full-backs, Robertson and Bradley, are playing as wingers.
Brighton 0-0 Liverpool Peep peep! Liverpool get the night rolling. And the first minute is … frantic.
Teams in full: Preston-Arsenal
Preston North End (probable 4-2-3-1) Woodman; Kesler-Hayden, Whatmough, Lindsay, Hughes; Thordarson, Ledson; Holmes, Okkels, Bowler; Greenwood.
Subs: Cornell, Best, Storey, Whiteman, Frokjaer-Jensen, McCann, Potts, Jakobsen, Stewart.
Arsenal (probable 4-3-3) Setford; Timber, Saliba, Kiwior, Zinchenko; Nwaneri, Jorginho, Merino; Sterling, Jesus, Martinelli.
Subs: Raya, Partey, Rice, Lewis-Skelly, Nichols, Heaven, Saka, Trossard, Havertz.
Referee Peter Bankes.
Teams in full: Villa-Palace
Aston Villa (probable 4-2-3-1) Gauci; Nedeljkovic, Diego Carlos, Mings, Maatsen; McGinn, Kamara; Bailey, Buendia, Philogene; Duran.
Subs: Zych, Cash, Patterson, Bogarde, Swinkels, Borland, Ramsey, Jimoh, Young.
Crystal Palace (probable 3-4-2-1) Turner,; Lacroix, Guehi, Chalobah; Munoz, Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell; Nketiah, Eze; Mateta.
Subs: Henderson, Clyne, Kporha, Schlupp, Kamada, Devenny, Sarr, Agbinone, Umeh-Chibueze.
Referee Sam Barrott.
Teams in full: Newcastle-Chelsea
Newcastle (probable 4-3-3) Pope; Krafth, Schar, Kelly, Hall; Tonali, Longstaff, Joelinton; Willock, Isak, Gordon.
Subs: Dubravka, Livramento, Burn, Alex Murphy, Guimaraes, Almiron, Miley, Barnes, Osula.
Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Jorgensen; Disasi, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Cucurella; Dewsbury-Hall, Veiga, Fernandez; Joao Felix, Nkunku, Mudryk.
Subs: Bergstrom, Bettinelli, Colwill, Chilwell, Casadei,
Chukwuemeka, Madueke, Palmer, Guiu.
Referee Chris Kavanagh.
We interrrupt these team sheets to bring you an email. “As a Fulham supporter,” Richard Hirst begins, “I can say with some angst that Preston would almost certainly fancy a penalty shoot out, preferably of epic proportions.” Ha.
Teams in full: Man United-Leicester
Man United (probable 4-2-3-1) Bayindir; Dalot, De Ligt, Lindelof, Martinez; Ugarte, Casemiro: Rashford, Fernandes, Garnacho; Zirkzee.
Subs: Heaton, Mazraoui, Amass, Evans, Fletcher, Fitzgerald, Amad, Hojlund, Wheatley.
Leicester (probable 4-2-3-1) Ward; Justin, Coady, Okoli, Thomas; Soumare, Skipp; McAteer, El Khannouss, De Cordova-Reid; Ayew.
Subs: Iversen, Pereira, Vestergaard, Ndidi, Winks, Mavididi, Buonanotte, Alves, Edouard.
Referee Andrew Madley.
Teams in brief: Newcastle-Chelsea
Some news to gladden the heart of every Toon fan: Cole Palmer is on the bench, where he’s joined by Noni Madueke. Enzo Fernandez captains a Chaelsea side that includes Dewsbuty-Hall, Nkunku, Mudryk and Felix. Newcastle are closer to full strength, though Eddie Howe rests Tino Livramento, Dan Burn and Bruno Guimaraes.
Teams in brief: Villa-Palace
In the race to make the most changes, Unai Emery shows who’s boss. He’s left out TEN of the players who started at the weekend. The last man standing is the captain, John McGinn. In a happy touch he’s joined by Tyrone Mings, whose last start came 14 months ago, on the opening day of last season.
Oliver Glasner goes the other way, making just three changes. Matt Turner, Will Hughes and Eddie Nketiah are the players who come into the Palace XI.
Teams in brief: Preston-Arsenal
Mikel Arteta plays something resembling a 2nd XI, plus William Saliba. Jorginho captains the side, while David Raya, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz are all on the bench. For Preston, Paul Heckingbottom makes six changes. Does anyone want to win this game?
Teams in brief: Man United-Leicester
Steve Cooper makes a shedload of changes for Leicester – nine, apparently, with only James Justin and Caleb Okoli keeping their places from the weekend. Ruud van Nistelrooy opts for four changes, not counting himself: Bayindir, Lindelof, Zirkzee and Ugarte replace Onana, Mazraoui, Eriksen and Højlund.
Teams in full: Brighton-Liverpool
Slot gives a debut to Viteszlav Jaros in goal, starts Tyler Morton in midfield and seems to be pushing Dominik Szoboszlai up from No 10 to a false 9.
Brighton (probable 4-2-3-1) Steele; Lamptey, Van Hecke, Igor, Kadioglu; Moder, Wieffer; Adingra, Enciso, Gruda; Ferguson.
Liverpool (probable 4-2-3-1) Jaros; Bradley, Gomez, Quansah, Robertson; Endo, Morton, Jones; Diaz, Szoboszlai, Gakpo.
Teams in brief: Brighton-Liverpool
Arne Slot rests Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Konate, Mac Allister and Salah, though all bar TAA can come off the bench. Fabian Hürzeler, who has fewer big cards to shuffle, rests Welbeck and Mitoma.
Preamble
Evening everyone and welcome to what should be a lively Wednesday night. If there’s such a thing as a stellar evening of League Cup football, this is it. The top six teams in England are all in action – and so are Manchester United.
The Carabao Cup may not be the most prestigious piece of silverware, but it’s one every club should be after. There’s no extra time! And not many fixtures! (Except in the semi-final.) You can lift a trophy in February!
Tonight we have five games and they’re all tasty. First up at 7.30pm is the James Milner derby (not, perhaps, the rarest thing a match can be): Brighton v Liverpool. Milner himself can’t be with us tonight, but this is still an attractive tie with a decent chance of an upset, now that Liverpool have finally begun to concede more than one goal a month.
At 7.45 there are four games. (1) Aston Villa entertain Crystal Palace in the Mile Jedinak derby. If Palace can beat Spurs, they should be able to give Villa a run for their money. (2) Man United entertain Leicester in the Maguire-Evans derby. On paper, this is a mismatch, but in reality it’s 14th in the Premier League against 15th. And it may be the only time Ruud van Nistelrooy gets to pick the team, at least until he takes over as United’s permanent manager in November 2026.
(3) Newcastle entertain Chelsea in the Lewis Hall derby. Hang on, haven’t these two just played each other? They have, last Saturday. Never mind Hall, this may be the Vera Lynn derby. Sod’s law of cup draws states that at least two clubs with a league fixture hereabouts will meet again. (Man U face Leicester in 11 days’ time, at the same address.) At least this game is at St James’ Park rather than Stamford Bridge, where Cole Palmer proved far too good for Newcastle.
(4) Preston entertain Arsenal in the Sam Greenwood derby. Yes, it’s the meeting we’ve all been waiting for between the first winners of the league championship and the first winners to come from the southern half of the country. These days Preston are flying the flag for the lower divisions: now that Stoke and Sheffield Wednesday have been squeezed out, they’re the only team left in this competition from outside the Prem. And Preston are unbeaten in the past month, which is more than can be said for Arsenal. But they do draw a lot, and might not fancy their chances in a shoot-out.
At 8.15, top of the bill, there’s Spurs v Man City. We’ll have an MBM from Daniel Harris for anyone wondering whether Spurs can remember that they were once Pep Guardiola’s bogey team. If you’d rather follow the goals and the gaffes from the other games, you’re in the right place. See you soon with the team sheets.
