Carabao Cup Draw: Chelsea and Tottenham Face High Stakes
Chelsea and Tottenham will discover tonight exactly how steep their road back to respectability might be.
The Carabao Cup second-round draw lands them earlier than either club would like, a blunt reminder of last season’s bruising Premier League finishes: 10th for Chelsea, 17th for Spurs, and no European football for either. No glamorous midweek trips abroad this year. Instead, a domestic cup that suddenly matters a little more.
Early entry, higher stakes
The draw takes place tonight, Monday August 10, 2026, in the build-up to the Devon derby between Plymouth and Exeter at Home Park. At around 7.20pm BST, Sky Sports presenter David Prutton will host proceedings, with Jobi McAnuff and Jamie Mackie pulling out the numbers.
It’s a familiar ritual, but the context has shifted. For Chelsea and Tottenham, this is no longer a competition to be managed around European commitments. It is a route to silverware, a chance to set a tone, maybe even a way to steady a project that wobbled last season.
They are part of an 11-strong Premier League contingent entering at this stage, joining 35 first-round winners. Brentford, Fulham, Newcastle, Everton, Leeds and Nottingham Forest all step in alongside them, as do newly-promoted Coventry, Ipswich and Hull.
West Ham, Burnley and Wolves – the three sides relegated from the top flight last season – had to start even earlier, in the first round.
The big guns wait, for now
The heavyweights of English football are still watching from a distance. Holders Manchester City, plus Arsenal, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool, are all tied up with Champions League commitments and won’t appear until the third round.
They will be joined at that stage by Bournemouth, Sunderland and Crystal Palace, who are in the Europa League, and Brighton, involved in the Conference League. Those nine clubs in Europe are spared this early traffic.
For now, this is the domain of clubs with something to prove and squads that need minutes. It’s also still a regionalised affair. The Carabao Cup remains split into northern and southern sections for the first and second rounds, only opening up fully from the third round onwards. Local trips, familiar foes, awkward away nights. The old-school feel of the competition lingers.
First-round battles set the stage
The opening round has already thrown up its share of tight contests and penalty drama.
In the Northern Section, Wolves eased past Port Vale 3-0, Sheffield United swept aside Mansfield 3-0, and West Brom hit four in a 4-1 win at Rotherham. Middlesbrough edged Wrexham 1-0, while Sheffield Wednesday, Fleetwood, Crewe and Stoke all progressed with narrow victories.
Several ties went to spot-kicks. Barnsley beat Wigan 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw, Stockport lost a shootout 5-4 to Doncaster, Burnley squeezed past Notts County 4-3 on penalties, and Preston saw off Huddersfield the same way, 4-3 after another 1-1 stalemate. Salford’s night ended in heartbreak, losing 4-3 on penalties to Shrewsbury.
Blackpool, Lincoln, Bradford, Blackburn and Blackpool’s 3-1 win at Grimsby added further shape to the northern half of the draw.
In the Southern Section, the margins were just as fine. Walsall stunned Bristol City 1-0, Stevenage won 2-1 at Wycombe, and Cambridge beat Barnet 2-1. Millwall advanced at QPR’s expense after a 1-1 draw and a 2-0 penalty shootout win.
Luton underlined their intent with a 3-0 win at Gillingham, while Cardiff edged a five-goal thriller 3-2 against Swindon. Peterborough, Watford and Norwich all progressed, with Norwich hitting four in a 4-1 victory over MK Dons.
Leyton Orient’s 2-0 win over Oxford, Reading’s penalty success at Bromley, and Birmingham’s 1-0 victory at Swansea kept the southern bracket lively. West Ham beat Portsmouth 3-1 at home, Leicester edged Northampton 1-0, and Charlton’s 3-1 win at Cheltenham saw them through.
AFC Wimbledon needed penalties to see off Newport 5-4 after a 1-1 draw, while Southampton’s 2-0 win at Colchester completed their passage. Plymouth’s clash with Exeter will complete the round.
Ball numbers for the second-round draw will be confirmed once that final tie is done, but the shape of the hat is already clear: a mix of bruised Premier League names, ambitious Championship sides and lower-league clubs sensing an opportunity.
How to follow the draw
The draw will be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Ultra HDR. Sky Sports subscribers can also stream it via the Sky Go app.
For those glued to every twist, Standard Sport will run a live blog tracking each ball, each pairing, and the reaction as it unfolds.
When the ties are played
Second-round matches will be played in the week commencing August 24, back in the familiar midweek slot that defines this competition.
By then, Chelsea and Tottenham will know whether their first real test of the season is a tricky away night in front of a fired-up lower-league crowd or a home tie they simply cannot afford to mishandle.
Either way, for two London giants with wounded pride and no European safety net, the Carabao Cup suddenly feels less like a sideshow and more like a stage they have to own.
