The draw for Round Two of the Carabao Cup will take place tonight on Sky Sports.
The Carabao Cup has returned, and attention is now turning to the second round.
It feels as though every season begins earlier than the last — and that is certainly true in the League Cup, where there has already been a preliminary round involving the four lowest-ranked EFL clubs, followed by a first round featuring 70 teams.
The competition is now ready to bring in Premier League clubs, so here is a look at how Round Two works.
Round Two of the Carabao Cup will be drawn live on Sky Sports Football on Monday August 10, at around 7:20pm.
Sky Sports presenter David Prutton will host the coverage alongside Jobi McAnuff and Jamie Mackie. The draw forms part of the build-up to Plymouth Argyle's meeting with Exeter City in a Devon derby, which concludes the First Round.
Yes, Round Two of the Carabao Cup splits all 46 teams into northern and southern sections.
It is not an exact geographic division, though. Norwich City and Leicester City are both among the 22 northernmost teams in this draw, but they have been placed in the South section.
West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers, by contrast, are among the 24 southernmost teams geographically, yet both have been allocated to the North section.
Walsall, Peterborough United, Shrewsbury Town and Birmingham City are all close to the dividing line, while York City were included in the southern section for the Round One draw after coming up from the preliminary round.
The EFL has previously taken travel routes into consideration, along with historical regional alignments, while also ensuring the exact number of teams required in each section rather than simply drawing a straight horizontal line across the map.
No, there is no seeding in the Carabao Cup at this stage. However, the EFL has brought in seeds for Round Three, purely for logistical reasons.
English clubs competing in the Champions League and Europa League have two more matchdays than those involved in the Conference League, which means fixture congestion could become an issue without a system designed to stop those teams from meeting one another.
Last season, for instance, third-round Carabao Cup ties were played in the weeks beginning September 16 and 23, creating clashes with European fixtures.
A total of 11 Premier League clubs come into the competition in Round Two, while any club involved in Europe receives a bye into Round Three.
Those clubs are as follows:
Brentford
Chelsea
Everton
Fulham
Hull City
Ipswich Town
Leeds United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Sunderland
Tottenham Hotspur
The ball numbers for Round Two of the Carabao Cup are as follows.
North:
Barnsley
Blackburn Rovers
Blackpool
Bradford City
Burnley
Crewe Alexandra
Doncaster Rovers
Everton
Fleetwood Town
Hull City
Leeds United
Lincoln City
Middlesbrough
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Preston North End
Sheffield United
Sheffield Wednesday
Shrewsbury Town
Stoke City
West Bromwich Albion
Wolverhampton Wanderers
South:
AFC Wimbledon
Birmingham City
Brentford
Cambridge United
Cardiff City
Charlton Athletic
Chelsea
Coventry City
Fulham
Ipswich Town
Leicester City
Leyton Orient
Luton Town
Millwall
Norwich City
Peterborough
Reading
Southampton
Stevenage
Tottenham Hotspur
Walsall
Watford
West Ham United
Plymouth Argyle or Exeter City
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