The third round of the Carabao Cup gets under way in midweek and we take a look at selected matches including Sunderland vs Hull and Millwall vs Newcastle on Tuesday and Chelsea vs Leeds on Wednesday
The previous round of matches in this tournament did not involve any of the Premier League sides who will be involved in European competition. Those nine clubs will be involved from now onwards and the third round takes place over the course of this week and then continues into next week.
Second guessing team news in this competition is no easy task when it comes to nailing up early calls but let’s see what we can come up with.
Millwall vs Newcastle (Tuesday)
Millwall’s first round clash at QPR saw them come through on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw and they followed up with a 1-0 win at Cambridge in Round 2. They made it to the Championship play offs last season and in the current campaign they have started with 3 wins and 2 defeats. They have beaten Norwich (3-0) and Bolton (4-0) here but they did go down 3-0 to Wrexham.
Newcastle joined this competition in Round 2 when they beat West Brom 3-2 in a home fixture with Harvey Barnes scoring twice.
Newcastle have taken 5 points from their first three EPL matches, a pair of 2-2 draws in home games against Liverpool and most recently Bournemouth and a 2-0 win at Spurs in their only road trip so far.
Verdict
Newcastle won this competition two season’s back and given they have no European football this season it might be more of a priority for them in comparison to some of the other clubs.
I’ll g with Newcastle to score in both halves
Bets: Newcastle to score in both halves? Yes at 5/4 with Lucky Fish
Sunderland vs Hull (Tuesday)
Sunderland will be in Europa League action next week and hence this is their first action in the Carabao Cup. They have improved with each of their EPL matches so far, a 2-1 defeat at Ipswich first time, a 1-0 home win over Fulham and Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Brentford.
Hull were drawn away to Stoke City in Round 2 and after a 1-1 draw they came through the penalty shot out. After being written off as relegation fodder by pretty much all the pundits prior to the start of the season they have taken 7 points from their firsts 3 EPL matches, a 2-0 win at home to Man United followed by a 1-0 victory away to Coventry and Saturday’s 0-0 draw at home to Villa.
Verdict
With an EPL home game against Arsenal at the weekend and a Europa League campaign t start in a week’s time Sunderland are likely to make wholesale changes. However they do have some quality players who have yet to feature in league games who ought to be hungry to impress and a couple of new signings could also be introduced so it could still be a fairly strong line up. I’m with the home side to score in each half
Bets: Sunderland to score in both halves? Yes at 17/10 with Lucky Fish
Chelsea vs Leeds (Wednesday)
Chelsea were 2-0 winners at home to Luton in Round 2 and they are another side who might fancy giving this competition a real go as they have no European football this season. They did make it to Wembley last season, reaching the FA Cup final which included a semi final victory over Leeds. In the EPL Chelsea began with wins at Fulham (3-2) and at home to Brighton (4-3) but tat the weekend they went down 2-1 at Arsenal.
Leeds were 2-0 winners away to Botts Forest in Round 2. That win came just days after they had beaten Forest 1-0 in their opening league game and they remain unbeaten this season having drawn subsequent matches at home to Brentford and away at Brighton (both 1-1)
Verdict
In the absence of early team news I would advise caution but I’ll give no more than 1 goal in each half of football a shout in the hope Leeds will try and keep it tight.
Bets: Both halves under 1.5 total goals at 18/10 with Lucky Fish
Prices are subject to change