Further boost to Newcastle United Carabao Cup Wembley return chances

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The Mag

·24. September 2025

Further boost to Newcastle United Carabao Cup Wembley return chances

Newcastle United begin their Carabao Cup defence tonight.

Eddie Howe and his players hoping for another trip to Wembley in six months time.

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It is of course six months now as well since that Carabao Cup trophy success against Liverpool.

Newcastle United can’t complain about how things have gone so far.

A bye in the Carabao Cup second round due to their Champions League participation.

Then due to the expansion (2024/25 onwards) of the two main European competitions and match scheduling issues, the third round draw meant Newcastle United couldn’t be drawn against any club also in the Champions League or Europa League.

The net result of that helping the odds go very much in favour of Newcastle getting a third round draw against lower league opposition, with League One Bradford City coming to St James’ Park tonight.

Nobody thinks this is a formality but a home game against lower league opposition is something any Premier League club would take.

On top of all that, Newcastle United have already seen numerous Premier League rivals drop out of the competition already.

Tuesday night saw Burnley and Wolves join Man U, West Ham, Bournemouth, Sunderland, Leeds, Villa and Forest in exiting the competition (see all third round results/fixtures below).

After last night’s results there are now seven Premier League clubs through to the Carabao Cup fourth round – Brentford, Palace, Brighton, Fulham, Chelsea, Liverpool and Wolves.

There are four ties in the third round still to be played and if Newcastle United get through, there will be a maximum of ten other Premier League clubs still left in the competition as well, plus five from the lower leagues.

The fourth round draw will be made tonight after the Port Vale v Arsenal match is concluded, the draw to be made at 10pm (at the earliest…).

If Newcastle get past Bradford, another kind home draw would leave the path wide open for Newcastle United to head into the quarter-finals for a fourth year in a row, one step away from a two-legged semi-final.

The fourth round matches will be played in the final midweek of October but the quarter-finals then aren’t until December. So if once again United can reach the last eight of the Carabao Cup, by December it would have given Eddie Howe plenty of time to get his summer signings right up to speed and fully integrated into the squad.

However, it all begins tonight and for now, Bradford in the third round are the only thing that matters.

Full Carabao Cup third round draw and results so far

Tuesday 16 September

Brentford 1 Villa 1 (Brentford won 4-2 on penalties)

Palace 1 Millwall 1 (Palace won 4-2 on penalties)

Sheffield Wednesday 0 Grimsby 1

Wednesday 17 September

Swansea 3 Forest 2

Tuesday 23 September

Barnsley 0 Brighton 6

Burnley 1 Cardiff 2

Fulham 1 Cambridge 0