The League Cup last-16 stage guarantees high-stakes drama as a number of Premier League heavyweights and in-form underdogs battle for a coveted place within the quarter-finals.
Each final season’s finalists are nonetheless within the combine, with Newcastle United aiming to defend their crown after beating Liverpool en path to their first main title within the twenty first century.
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Nevertheless, the Magpies face stern competitors from Arsenal and Manchester Metropolis, whereas the Reds search amends for a dreadful run of kind within the Premier League.
The League Cup fixtures will probably be primarily on Sky within the UK (Sky Sports activities +, Sky Sports activities Premier League and Sky Sports activities Primary Occasion), with ITV additionally choosing up the function sport on Tuesday and Wednesday.
With out additional ado, let’s take a look at the 5 most fun match-ups.
Newcastle United vs Tottenham Hotspur
Eddie Howe’s males are again on monitor after a sluggish begin to the season, successful 4 of their final 5 matches in all competitions, together with a 2-1 residence league victory over Fulham on the weekend.
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St James’ Park has been a fortress lately. Newcastle have gained three consecutive residence video games within the build-up to this assembly, netting seven objectives whereas conceding only one in return.
A fourth win on the trot just isn’t past the realm of risk, significantly contemplating the Magpies’ dominant kind in opposition to Tottenham on residence turf.
Tottenham have misplaced their final three visits to this stadium by an combination scoreline of 12-2, highlighting the scale of the duty awaiting Thomas Frank’s facet on Wednesday.
In response to , Yves Bissouma, Ben Davies, Radu Dragusin, Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Koto Takai are unavailable, additional derailing their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals.
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Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Chelsea
Nailed to the underside of the Premier League desk as the one winless facet this season, Wolverhampton Wanderers may discover this cup conflict a welcome distraction from their league turmoil.
Nevertheless, under-pressure supervisor Vitor Pereira would in all probability recognize a much less formidable problem than going through Chelsea, who slumped to a heartbreaking 2-1 residence loss to Sunderland final weekend.
That end result snapped the Blues’ four-match successful run, reigniting the strain on Enzo Maresca after the membership’s blended begin to the brand new league marketing campaign.
Chelsea can draw confidence from their current conferences with Wolves, having gained each league encounters final season through multi-goal margins, together with an outstanding 6-2 victory on this floor.
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Swansea vs Manchester Metropolis
Swansea pulled off a large upset within the earlier League Cup spherical as they squeezed previous Nottingham Forest to arrange one other high-profile tie in opposition to Pep Guardiola’s Man Metropolis facet.
The guests look to bounce again from Saturday’s loss at Aston Villa and prolong their successful run in opposition to Swansea to eight matches within the first League Cup conflict between the golf equipment since 2016.
A slender 1-0 defeat at Villa Park knocked the Cityzens down from a three-game successful streak in all competitions and marked their first scoring clean since a 2-0 residence defeat to Tottenham in August.
Guardiola performed down ‘’ after his facet failed to fireside at Villa, and this fixture could possibly be an ideal alternative for them to get again on monitor.
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Arsenal vs Brighton & Hove Albion
It’s debatable whether or not there’s a extra in-form facet throughout Europe’s conventional top-five leagues than Arsenal for the time being.
Mikel Arteta’s fees have gained 9 of their ten outings since a 1-0 loss at Liverpool in late August, together with the final seven in a row, with six that includes an accompanying clear sheet.
Arsenal’s defensive resilience has been off the charts, however they’ve struggled in assault, with two of their final three victories yielding an an identical 1-0 scoreline.
One aim could not suffice right here, contemplating Brighton final failed to attain in a 2-0 defeat at Everton within the second Premier League spherical.
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Nevertheless, two objectives weren’t sufficient to get them factors in opposition to Manchester United final weekend as they have been on the receiving finish of a 4-2 scoreline at Outdated Trafford.
That doesn’t make for promising studying forward of this journey to the Emirates Stadium, the place they’ve solely misplaced considered one of their final 5 aggressive matches in opposition to the Gunners.
Liverpool vs Crystal Palace
Liverpool’s kind unfathomably spiralled after a powerful begin to their Premier League title defence, placing supervisor Arne Slot beneath heavy strain following a memorable maiden season at Anfield.
5 defeats from their final six video games in all competitions paint a bleak image for the Reds, who fell to a dismal 3-2 loss at Brentford on Saturday.
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Fortunately for the Merseyside giants, Crystal Palace arrive at Anfield in poor kind, having misplaced three of their final 4 fixtures, most lately dropping to Arsenal on the weekend.
Again-to-back losses with out scoring Palace’s early-season confidence, derailing Oliver Glasner’s hopes of beating Slot in his personal yard for the second time on the trot.