All eyes will be on the Carabao Cup fourth-round draw on Wednesday night when the hotly tipped contenders, the dark horses and the perennial underdogs of English football discover their fate for the next phase of this year’s competition.
Two Premier League heavyweights fell at the earliest possible hurdle last week as Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest were eliminated at the hands of Brentford and Swansea respectively.
Manchester United’s EFL Cup journey was brought to a halt earlier still when they suffered a humiliating second-round defeat away to Grimsby Town last month.
The likes of Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool all get their campaigns up and running over the next 48 hours and will be looking to ensure their names remain in the hat by avoiding similar upsets.
Reigning champions Newcastle, meanwhile, will hope to kick off their defence in style as they prepare to welcome League One outfit Bradford City to St James’ Park.
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The Magpies brought their painful 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy to an end by triumphing over Liverpool at Wembley in March, with the club’s previous win coming way back in 1955.
It’s been an extremely disappointing start to the season for the Toon this time around, though, and Eddie Howe’s men must somehow turn their fortunes around after picking up just one victory from their six opening matches in all competitions.
The 2024 runners-up, Liverpool, enter the fray as the most successful team in the history of the competition, coming out on top on ten occasions – two more times than their nearest rivals Manchester City.
When is the Carabao Cup draw?
The fourth-round draw will be made following Arsenal’s third-round tie with Port Vale on Wednesday 24 September 2025.
The draw is penciled in to start at 10:15pm BST, but may have to be pushed back should the Vale Park contest go to penalties.
Ball numbers
Carabao Cup fourth-round numbers
- Grimsby Town
- Brentford
- Crystal Palace
- Swansea City
- Barnsley or Brighton
- Burnley or Cardiff
- Fulham or Cambridge United
- Lincoln City or Chelsea
- Wigan or Wycombe Wanderers
- Wolves or Everton
- Wrexham or Reading
- Liverpool or Southampton
- Huddersfield or Man City
- Tottenham or Doncaster
- Newcastle or Bradford City
- Port Vale or Arsenal
How to watch on TV
The fourth-round draw will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports News. Subscribers will be able to tune in on the Sky Go app.
Sky have confirmed that the draw will also be available to stream free of charge on the official Sky Sports YouTube channel.
Sky Sports presenter Simon Thomas is set to host the draw, alongside ex-Liverpool, Tottenham and England star Jamie Redknapp and former Sheffield United midfielder Michael Brown.
When will the fourth-round games be played?
All fourth-round fixtures are set to take place in the week commencing Monday 27 October.
Following this, the quarter-finals will commence the week commencing 15 December, with the semi-final first and second legs scheduled for the weeks commencing 12 January and 2 February 2026 respectively.
This year’s final will be staged at Wembley on Sunday March 22 2026.
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