Why Man United were unable to face Liverpool in new revamped Carabao Cup draw
Carabao Cup holders Liverpool have avoided facing any of their European Premier League rivals in Wednesday night’s third round draw.
It has been confirmed the Reds will take on West Ham in an all-Premier League clash, while AFC Wimbledon were rewarded for knocking out Ipswich with a home tie against Newcastle, and fellow League Two side Barrow travel to Chelsea.
The revamped draw for the third round made its debut on Wednesday night, as the EFL shook up the format for the new 2024/25 campaign.
It is the stage that sees the seven teams in European competition enter the tournament.
Defending champions Liverpool were joined by Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea and Aston Villa, with the other 13 top-flight clubs entering in the second round.
Some of those teams are already out, with Ipswich being humilated by League Two Wimbledon who triumphed in penalties, while Newcastle also beat Nottingham Forest in a shoot-out.
But the third round draw has been tweaked for this season and here is all you need to know about how it worked – which meant European rival clubs were prevented from meeting each other.
Carabao Cup third-round draw: Changes
This season, the Carabao Cup draw was made in two stages.
The first part involved teams in the Champions League and Europa League – they were placed in bowl one, and the other 26 sides were put into bowl two.
Teams in bowl one [Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham, Liverpool and Aston Villa] could not be drawn against each other in the third round. They were pre-drawn to determine if they’ll be at home or away and separated into six different ties.
Then, the first six teams out of the hat in pot two were drawn to play one of the six European sides.
Chelsea are also in European competition this year, but they are between legs in their qualifying campaign, so they could not be included with the other European teams.
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Carabao Cup third-round draw: IN FULL
Liverpool vs West Ham
Manchester City vs Watford
Arsenal vs Bolton
Manchester United vs Barnsley
Wycombe vs Aston Villa
Coventry vs Tottenham
Walsall vs Leicester
Brentford vs Leyton Orient
Blackpool vs Sheffield Wednesday
Preston vs Fulham
Everton vs Southampton
QPR vs Crystal Palace
Stoke vs Fleetwood
Brighton vs Wolves
AFC Wimbledon vs Newcastle
Chelsea vs Barrow
When will Carabao Cup third-round games be played?
Ties will be played over the course of two weeks, the weeks commencing September 16 and September 23 – with LIVE commentary on talkSPORT.
The ties containing teams playing Champions League matches will take place in the latter week as it begins in the week commencing September 16.
Meanwhile, ties containing Europa League teams will take place in the week commencing September 16, as the Europa League commences in the week commencing September 23.