The draw for the third round of the 2010-11 Carling Cup has been announced, and the plum tie will definitely be the north London derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. The third round games will be played the week of September 20, which means that the Spurs against Arsenal match will be just one week after Tottenham’s first-ever game in the group stage of the Champions League (when they play Werder Bremen).
The good news for soccer purists is that twelve Premier League teams have been drawn against each other in the third round. That means that the chances of non-Premier League clubs making it into the fourth round is greater than usual. Out of 16 games that will be played in the fourth round, we already know that there’ll be a guaranteed three from outside the Premier League. And in the seven games in the third round that feature a Premier League side against a lower league team, the hope is that there’ll be an upset or two.
While Arsenal against Tottenham will get most of the attention in the third round, the other tasty tie is Scunthorpe United at home against Manchester United. The club’s home ground of Glanford Park only holds 9,000. And United may find themselves having a tricky game against The Iron, a Championship side.
Here is the draw for the third-round of the Carling Cup (Premier League teams shown in bold):
Brentford v Everton
Portsmouth v Leicester City
Stoke City v Fulham
Chelsea v Newcastle United
Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers
Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal
Millwall v Ipswich Town
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Notts County
Burnley v Bolton Wanderers
Birmingham City v Milton Keynes Dons
Liverpool v Northampton Town
Scunthorpe United v Manchester United
West Bromwich Albion v Manchester City
Sunderland v West Ham United
Peterborough United v Swansea City
Wigan Athletic v Preston North End
