Chelsea and Tottenham Enter Carabao Cup Second Round
Chelsea and Tottenham are used to circling this competition from a distance at this stage of the year. Not this season. Not after the bruises of last term.
Tenth and 17th in the Premier League has its price, and it is more than dented pride. It means no European nights, no group-stage glamour, and an early start in the Carabao Cup. The London rivals step in at the second round, a stage they would normally watch from afar while juggling continental commitments.
This time, there is only domestic business. And the Cup suddenly looks more important.
A reshaped Carabao Cup
The competition itself has been nudged into a new shape. The first round began before a ball was kicked in the new EFL season, spread mainly across a weekend rather than tucked into the usual midweek slot. The EFL has acted to ease the early-season strain, wary of clubs being forced into three games in seven days before August has even settled.
The change has already produced a jolt. Fourth-tier Walsall stunned Championship side Bristol City 1-0 at Ashton Gate on Thursday night, the first real shock of the campaign. Crawley and Rochdale had already navigated their preliminary hurdles against York and Tranmere to book their places in the main draw.
Those early results set the tone. The Premier League names are about to arrive.
When and where the draw lands
The second-round draw will be made on Monday, August 10, 2026, dropped into the build-up to the Devon derby between Plymouth and Exeter at Home Park. Expect it at around 7:20pm BST, with Sky Sports presenter David Prutton fronting the coverage and Jobi McAnuff and Jamie Mackie pulling out the balls.
The Carabao Cup remains regionalised in these opening stages, so the draw will still be split geographically for the first and second rounds before the competition opens up later on. For clubs like Chelsea and Spurs, that raises the prospect of sharp, local ties right out of the gate.
Sky Sports will show the draw live on Main Event, Football and Ultra HDR, with subscribers also able to stream it via Sky Go. Standard Sport will run a live blog for those who want every ball, every pairing, in real time.
Who joins the party?
Eleven Premier League sides enter at this point, joining the 35 first-round winners to complete the second-round line-up.
Chelsea and Tottenham are among them, of course, joined by fellow top-flight clubs Brentford, Fulham, Newcastle, Everton, Leeds and Nottingham Forest. Newly-promoted Coventry, Ipswich and Hull also step in, carrying the momentum of their rise into a competition that has often rewarded ambitious underdogs.
The three clubs relegated from the Premier League last season — West Ham, Burnley and Wolves — have already been thrown into the grind from the first round, a reminder of how quickly status can shift.
At the other end of the spectrum sit the European contingent, watching on for now. Holders Manchester City, along with Arsenal, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool, are all in the Champions League. Bournemouth, Sunderland and Crystal Palace head into the Europa League, while Brighton take their place in the Conference League. Those nine sides will not join the Carabao Cup until the third round next month.
The trophy, of course, still belongs to Manchester City. Everyone else is chasing.
What comes next
Ball numbers for the second-round draw will be confirmed once the bulk of this weekend’s first-round ties are completed. Only then will Chelsea, Spurs and the rest know exactly what awaits them.
The second-round fixtures will be played in the week commencing August 24, as the competition slips back into a more familiar midweek rhythm after its experimental opening.
For Chelsea and Tottenham, it is more than just another date in the diary. With Europe off the table, the Carabao Cup offers something they both badly need: a shot at silverware, a fast track to momentum, and a chance to change the story of their season before it has truly begun.
