Manchester United renew hostilities with Newcastle United
Only one of last year’s EFL Cup finalists can enter the pot for the 2023-24 quarter-final draw, as Manchester United renew hostilities with Newcastle United in Wednesday’s fourth-round battle at Old Trafford.
Erik ten Hag‘s men put three past Crystal Palace without reply to cruise into the last 16, while the Magpies ended Manchester City’s quadruple hopes with a memorable one-goal triumph.
Since leaving Eddie Howe‘s men crestfallen at Wembley while they revelled in the end of their six-year trophy drought, Man United have seen their powers wane significantly, and the reigning EFL Cup champions were nothing short of deplorable in Sunday’s Manchester derby.
Man United enter Wednesday’s blockbuster showdown having progressed from each of their last five fourth-round ties in the EFL Cup.
Defeat at Wembley in the 2022-23 showpiece stretched Newcastle’s winless run against Man United to seven matches, but the first half of their revenge mission was completed at St James’ Park only a few weeks later in a thoroughly-deserved 2-0 success.
Something is just not clicking with Man United’s expensively-assembled attacking contingent at the moment, and not even the introduction of a few fresh legs should help to solve Ten Hag’s conundrum in all areas of the field.
Newcastle’s poor away record does at least offer the Red Devils some hope of keeping their grip on the trophy,
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Arsenal travel away to meet Mohammed Kudus West Ham
Seeking to inflict a fourth successive defeat on their London rivals, Arsenal make the short journey across the capital to meet West Ham United in Wednesday’s EFL Cup fourth-round tie.
Both sides emerged 1-0 victors from their third-round affairs, as the Irons sneaked past Lincoln City, while Mikel Arteta‘s troops narrowly overcame Brentford. Few Arsenal fans should be losing sleep over EFL Cup exits, but having not hoisted the trophy aloft since the 1992-93 season, some feel that another run to a mid-season piece of silverware is overdue.
Yet to add an EFL Cup trophy to their cabinet, West Ham’s hopes of adding domestic silverware to their Europa Conference League crown from last term are wafer-thin if recent results are anything to go by.
Juggling three competitions during an unforgiving winter period appears to be catching up to West Ham, but managing domestic and continental duties has so far not proved a massive problem for their in-form visitors.
West Ham are fighting an uphill battle to regain their golden touch against an Arsenal backline who have proven an extremely tough nut to crack more often than not on the road this term.
A raft of rotations from both managers means that neither capital outfit may be at their best, but Arteta’s charges ought to make the most of West Ham’s dip in form to stroll into the quarter-finals.
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Blackburn will fancy their chances against Chelsea
Five-time EFL Cup winners Chelsea welcome Championship side Blackburn Rovers to Stamford Bridge for a fourth round clash on Wednesday.
After a promising set of results, Chelsea were left reeling by another damaging defeat at the weekend which has seen them drop back into the Premier League’s bottom half.
Yet another humbling by the Bees at the Bridge means they were sent crashing back down to earth, having now lost all three Premier League West London derbies at home against Thomas Frank‘s men.
Saturday’s defeat in a West London derby with Brentford has confirmed that Chelsea are still in the midst of a crisis, even if it appeared they had begun turning a corner in recent weeks.
Chelsea did look uninspiring in limping to victory against AFC Wimbledon in round two, but the club have only lost to lower-league opposition once in the last 15 years.
Pochettino may be tempted to make a few more changes this time with a clash against Tottenham Hotspur on the horizon.
Despite their woes so far this season, Chelsea’s record against lower-league opposition speaks for itself and they should progress here.
Blackburn will fancy their chances given their goalscoring exploits in this competition so far, and the form of Chelsea, but a huge upset may be just beyond them.
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Bournemouth welcome Liverpool to the Vitality Stadium
Having finally got off the mark in the Premier League at the 10th attempt, Bournemouth will endeavour to pull off a significant EFL Cup scalp when Liverpool head to the Vitality Stadium for Wednesday’s fourth-round showdown.
The Cherries eased past Stoke City 2-0 in their previous knockout affair, while the Reds came from behind to record a 3-1 win – as has been tradition this season – over Leicester City.
Bournemouth had previously got as far as the quarter-finals in both the 2017-18 and 2018-19 campaigns before succumbing to Chelsea’s superiority, and with a daunting clash versus Manchester City on the agenda this weekend, a knockout upset would be the perfect preparation for their trip to the treble winners.
Boosted by a timely injection of confidence, Bournemouth ought to play without fear in a contest
where few will expect them to come out on top, which might spell danger for a Liverpool backline that remains far from impermeable. As for Liverpool, Diaz was understandably not involved against Forest following news of his parents’ kidnapping, and while the Colombia international’s father remains missing, it is difficult to envision Klopp including him in the squad for the trip south.
Klopp will certainly not be afraid to shuffle his pack, but with an enviable selection of in-form attackers bound to begin the contest, the Reds should still prove too hot for the Cherries to handle.
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