Carabao Cup draw LIVE: Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd learn third round ties | OneFootball

The Carabao Cup third round draw takes place this evening (PA Archive)

The Carabao Cup gathers pace tonight when the third round ties are decided to complete the Premier League’s involvement in the competition.

So far the nine Premier League teams in Europe have sat out as the second round edges towards completion, but holders Manchester City, Arsenal, who lost to City in last season’s final, Manchester United, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Bournemouth, Sunderland, Brighton and Crystal Palace will all learn their third-round opponents tonight.

There is a pre-draw though, with those aforementioned teams set to be separated in order to avoid a clash in Uefa competitions.

While the draw will be completed before Chelsea face Luton and Fulham face AFC Wimbledon to conclude the second round.

Everton boss David Moyes on his return to Preston

David Moyes will be looking to embark on a cup run alongside maintaining Everton’s Premier League progress and the second round sees the Scot return to Preston, where he ended his playing career before going on to manage the club.

The 63-year-old Scot reflected on learning from Sir Tom Finney during his time at Deepdale, which saw him take Preston to the play-off final in 2001 before leaving to join Everton the following year.

“It was a brilliant experience for me and I would be recommending to all the young coaches that you are better to go earn your stripes and try and find a way through the leagues than being thrown in where it is difficult at the start,” he said.

“I was really fortunate that I had been a player there, assistant manager or coach as well and when I got the job I had a little bit of knowledge of the club that maybe the players needed and it was a great learning experience. A brilliant club to go to.”

(PA)

Some of tonight's Carabao Cup team news

Everton make just three changes from their 2-0 win over Crystal Palace at the weekend, and include the returning James Garner at Preston after his recovery from injury.

Tottenham have named new signing Savio on the bench against Charlton, with Matheus Fernandes making his home debut, Destiny Udogie starting and Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro back on the bench.

Newcastle offer a full competitive debut to midfielder Bazoumana Toure against West Brom and also start Nick Woltemade ahead of Yoane Wissa after the 2-2 draw against Liverpool.

Jamie Braidwood26 August 2026 19:07

When will the Carabao Cup third round be played?

The third round of the Carabao Cup is scheduled to take place across consecutive weeks, starting on 7 September and 14 September.

The ties will be played midweek as single-leg fixtures with the winners progressing to the fourth round.

(PA Archive)

Mike Jones26 August 2026 19:00

What happens to the teams playing in Europe?

There could be NINE Premier League teams playing in Europe this season, so therefore also entering the Carabao Cup in the third round stage: Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Bournemouth, Sunderland, Brighton (if they qualify for the Conference League) and Crystal Palace.

The expanded Champions League and Europa League format means the Carabao Cup third round is now played across two weeks, commencing Monday 7 September and Monday 14 September.

As the first week of the Champions League takes place in the week commencing Monday 7 September, those five Champions League teams (Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Man Utd and Aston Villa) have to play the following week.

While the three teams involved in the Europa League (Bournemouth, Sunderland and Crystal Palace) play in the first week, as the Europa League starts from the week commencing Monday 14 September.

The EFL states: “As Uefa competition fixtures cannot be rescheduled, and to enable the Carabao Cup to proceed within its agreed schedule without disrupting other League or domestic cup fixtures, the additional conditions will ensure that the eight clubs participating in the Champions League or Europa League cannot meet each other in Round Three of the Carabao Cup. This will mean that the teams drawn in each tie will be able to fulfil the fixture in one of the allocated weeks.”

Carabao Cup draw: Last night's second-round results

It was another good away day for Leeds as they won at Nottingham Forest for the second time in four days, while Hull avoided an exit as they scraped past Stoke on penalties. Fleetwood Town are the only fourth-tier side through after thumping Shrewsbury Town, also of League Two, while Brentford were back among the goals as they thrashed Birmingham 6-1.

Northern Section

Doncaster Rovers 1–3 Middlesbrough

Barnsley 3–2 Crewe Alexandra

Blackburn Rovers 1–2 Sheffield United

Blackpool 1–4 Lincoln City

Fleetwood Town 4–0 Shrewsbury Town

Sheffield Wednesday 0–2 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Stoke City 1–1 (4–5 p) Hull City

Nottingham Forest 0–2 Leeds United

Southern Section

Cardiff City 1−2 Norwich City

Cambridge United 0–1 Millwall

Ipswich Town 3–1 Leicester City

Plymouth Argyle 2–4 Coventry City

Southampton 1–4 West Ham United

Stevenage 0–3 Reading

Walsall 0–0(5–6p) Leyton Orient

Watford 1–5 Peterborough United

Birmingham City 1–6 Brentford

Daniel James of Leeds United celebrates scoring his team’s second goal with teammate Lukas Nmecha (Getty)

Jamie Braidwood26 August 2026 18:20

When is Carabao Cup third round draw?

The draw for the Carabao Cup third round will take place today, Wednesday 26 August. The main draw will follow the conclusion of the second round tie between Preston and Everton which kicks off at 8pm BST, meaning the draw could start at around 10.15pm BST.

There is a pre-draw before kick-off at Deepdale, which will determine whether the Premier League sides in Europe will be home or away.

Coverage starts at 7pm BST, meaning the pre-draw is likely to take place at around 7:30pm BST.

Jack Rathborn26 August 2026 18:10