New Carabao Cup draw explained: Why Manchester United were unable to face Liverpool as third round fixtures confirmed

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 Carabao Cup is the first piece of silverware up for grabs every seasonCredit: Getty

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.

Liverpool are the holders of the Carabao Cup

Chelsea could have ended up facing another European team in the third round of the Carabao Cup - but got a League Two side instead — Chelsea could have ended up facing another European team in the third round of the Carabao Cup – but got a League Two side insteadCredit: Getty

Carabao Cup third-round draw: IN FULL

Liverpool vs West Ham

Manchester City vs Watford

Arsenal vs Bolton

New footage shows Joe Gomez pulling Ben Chillwell away from Conor Bradley in confrontation during Carabao Cup final

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.

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