Carabao Cup Preview: Premier League’s big boys enter the fray

The football does not stop any time soon as the League Cup returns this week and we will be treated to some tasty all Premier League affairs in the third round of the competition.

Here are the stand-out fixtures from this week’s ties…

Wolves v Spurs

For the second time already this season, Wolves take on Spurs but this time it is in the League Cup rather than the Premier League.

The last time Spurs faced Wolves in the League Cup was back in the 1971/1972 semi-final where Spurs came out 4-3 winners on aggregate before going on to defeat Norwich in the final. Spurs have won eight of their last 11 away games against Wolves in all competitions and are priced at 19/10 to do so once again. Spurs made it all the way to the final last season before falling to Man City at Wembley, but could they go the extra mile this time? If so, they are priced at 12/1 to win the competition.

In their last home League Cup fixture, Wolves fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Stoke City meaning that they had lost consecutive home League Cup fixtures for the first time since August 2000. Since winning the League Cup in 1980, Wolves have progressed from just two of their 18 ties against top-flight opponents and both times were when they were in the Championship. Wolves are 11/8 to win on Wednesday evening. Would you like to work out your potential winnings? Try our online betting calculator.

Man United v West Ham

Manchester United take on West Ham for the second time in three days on Wednesday evening but will this League Cup tie be as crazy as Sunday’s Premier League meeting?

This will be the fourth League Cup meeting between the two sides and United dominate this fixture having won three of these four ties. As expected and given their win against the Hammers on Sunday, United head into this fixture as 1/2 favourites. United have only been eliminated in the third round of the cup twice in their history with their last exit coming against Derby County in 2018-19.

The last time West Ham beat Man United at Old Trafford in any competition was back in 2007 when Carlos Tevez’ goal kept the Hammers in the Premier League. Since then, they have failed to defeat United on 17 occasions. As a result, West Ham go into Wednesday evening game as 11/2 underdogs but anything could happen this time round.

Chelsea v Aston Villa

Only two weekends ago, Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea side defeated Aston Villa 3-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League but this time they go head-to-head against one another in the League Cup.

This will be the fifth League Cup tie between Chelsea and Aston Villa with the last meeting coming in 2006/07 where Chelsea romped to a 4-0 victory. Chelsea are strong 2/5 favourites heading into this fixture as they look to continue their unbeaten start to the season in all competitions. Thomas Tuchel has lost just four of his 34 domestic cup ties across spells in Germany, France and Chelsea and he will be looking to extend this to 35.

Since the 2019/20 campaign, Aston Villa have progressed in the League Cup at the expense of Premier League opposition four times with their only defeat coming against Man City in the 2019-20 League Cup Final. Cameron Archer’s hat-trick on his Aston Villa debut against Barrow was the first by a Villa player in the League Cup since August 2015 and Archer is at 15/4 to find the back of the net once again in the competition.

Check out all the latest football betting odds at William Hill