The EFL Cup certainly delivered this week. The fixture list for the Round of 16 looked promising on paper and that potential was converted into fascinating matches, big wins and goals.Indeed, it all kicked off with Liverpool beating Spurs, while Arsenal hosted Reading, dispatching of their rivals from across the Berkshire border with relative ease. Alongside these results, Hull narrowly edged past Bristol City, Newcastle convincingly beat Preston by six goals while Leeds threw in the penalty shootout victory we all love, as neutrals, to see as they somewhat defied the odds to beat Norwich.Wednesday’s action was enthralling, too, as Manchester United won the latest instalment of their local rivalry with Manchester City, while West Ham beat Chelsea and Southampton heaped more misery on David Moyes’ hapless Sunderland.
We’ve now had the draw for the quarter-final (above), so let’s take some time to reflect on what happened away from the scorelines in the last round…
The fans care
Okay, there are caveats such as cheaper tickets for the games in question and the fact that it’s currently half term for school children – making it easier for parents to take their kids – but the sheer quantity of fans attending shows the increasing popularity of the EFL Cup. Indeed, the competition is rapidly moving away from its billing as the FA Cup’s runt sibling, with more and more big teams taking it seriously, and that’s reflected by the growing attention it receives.
The chance to get an early trophy in the cabinet and bed in summer signings increases the competition’s appeal, and were it not for the ‘tradition’ element of the FA Cup, we think the League Cup would be thought of more widely as the one to win.
Lots of youngsters on the verge of breaking through
One of the recurring themes of the week was managers rotating their teams to give youngsters a chance.
The most notable match for this was Liverpool vs. Spurs, a game in which Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino both made wholesale changes, with the home side thrusting in the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ovie Ejaria, while the travelling Londoners afforded Cameron Carter-Vickers and Harry Winks minutes.
Elsewhere, Arsenal used Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Southampton named five products of their famed youth academy in the starting XI and even Manchester City found space for Aleix Garcia and Pablo Maffeo during their clash with Manchester United.
It won’t be long until we see some of these players in regular Premier League action.
Looks like we’ll have a big team winner
Having eased through to the quarter-finals, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool are the biggest favourites to lift the trophy at Wembley. Granted, West Ham and Southampton will be confident of having a real say, but the big three are widely being talked up as potential winners. And the draw has been relatively kind, with all three at home for the quarter-finals – Klopp’s Reds even have the luxury of being facing the lowest ranked side left in the competition, Leeds.
Newcastle well placed to cause a shock
Although we think one of the traditional elite teams will go on to win this cup, Newcastle are handily placed to put a cat among the pigeons. Indeed, the Championship leaders will travel to Hull for the next round and it’s hard to argue that their squad isn’t stronger than their top tier rivals’. The Tigers are currently in a state of free-fall in league action and only just edged past Bristol City in the last round, while the Magpies are really settling under Rafa Benitez.
Should they make it into the semi-finals, who knows what could happen…
Man United can no longer overlook Mata
Although this round-up is not one to focus on individual players, Juan Mata’s showing against Manchester City really was notable. The Spaniard netted the winner at Old Trafford to push his side into the quarter-finals, and, as the numbers show, Manchester United are a much better team with him involved. Mata needed to use the opportunity to prove himself to Jose Mourinho, and he took his chance.