wolves1819The three remaining matches in the Round of 16 of the Carabao Cup take place on Wednesday including Liverpool v Arsenal, Aston Villa v Wolves and Chelsea v Manchester United.

 

 

 

 

Liverpool v Arsenal

 

Liverpool entered the tournament in the previous round and a much changed side came away from MK Dons of League 1 with a 2-0 win. Gomez, Lovren, Oxlade-Chamberlain , Milner and Keita all started that game and with a 6 point lead at the top of the Premier League and a Champions League group stage campaign only half way through, one would anticipate many fringe players and some youngsters will be given an opportunity again here.

Arsenal thrashed Championship side Nottingham Forest 5-0 in the previous round and at that time they were also going pretty well in the league. However since then their league results have taken a dip with 5 points from the last 4 outings and you get the impression all is not well at The Emirates between coach and some of the players.

Liverpool were 3-1 winners when the teams met in a league game at Anfield in late August.

 

Aston Villa v Wolves

 

This fixture has the extra spice of being a local derby and Villa have home advantage for the first time in this cup run which started with a 6-1 win at League 2 side Crewe and continued with a 3-1 win at Brighton. Villa fielded a pretty strong line up at Brighton suggesting they fancy a tilt at this trophy and although they lost a league game 3-0 at Manchester City last weekend they had won 2 and drawn 1 of their previous 3.

Wolves are shaking off a poor start to the season although they needed a penalty shoot out to see off Championship side Reading after a 1-1 draw in a home tie in the previous round. Wolves made wholesale changes for that game and whether the derby occasion will lead to a stronger line up this time around will be worth montioring. Wolves are unebaten in their last 8 across all competitions which includes the Europa League . They are 1 point better off than Villa in the EPL standings but they have had a busier schedule to contend with of late.

 

 

Chelsea v Manchester United

 

Chelsea were runners up to Manchester City in this competition last season, a game they lost in a penalty shoot out. Right now Chelsea are in great shape and they come into this game on the back of 4 straight league wins and a couple of victories in the Champions League group stage. They thrashed League 2 side Grimsby 7-1 at Stamford Bridge in the previous round where a number of first team regulars played some part.

United needed penalty kicks to see off Rochdale of League 1 at Old Trafford in the previous round. Their results have been decidely average for much of the season but they did beat Chelsea 4-0 at Old Trafford on the opening weekend of the season and more recently they drew 1-1 at home to Liverpool and won at Partizan in the Europe League and Norwich in the EPL. United still trail Chelsea by 7 points in the EPL standings.

 

Wednesday's Bets:

 

Team news was thin on the ground at the time of writing so trying to make a play in advance here is a pretty thankless task. However they are intersting enough matches to watch and I'll speculate that we might see reasonably strong line ups in the games at Villa and Chelsea and a both teams to score? (yes) double at current odds will pay just over 2/1,

 

Bet: Villa v Wolves btts yes / Chelsea v Man United btts yes at 41/20