The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Carabao Cup fixtures
Tuesday 29 September
20:45: Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea
Wednesday 30 September
18:30: NewportCounty v Newcastle United
20:00: Burnley v Manchester City
20:45: Brighton & Hove Albion v Manchester United
20:45: Everton v West Ham United
Thursday 1 October
18:30: Brentford v Fulham
20:00: Aston Villa v Stoke City
20:45: Liverpool v Arsenal
London, UK, | THE INDEPENDENT | The Carabao Cup round of 16 action begins on Tuesday evening with a London derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea. Both teams played to dramatic Premier League draws this past weekend: Spurs were denied by a late equaliser to be held by Newcastle United, while Chelsea fought back from three goals down to end 3-3 at West Bromwich Albion.
Spurs manager Jose Mourinho has already complained about the congested fixture schedule early in the 2020-21 season, but his Blues counterpart Frank Lampard shot down those comments: “Yeah, I mean, I know that, and I know Jose it’s a busy time for Tottenham because of the Europa League,” said the Chelsea manager.
“It’s a busy time for us all. They had a free mid-week last week, we didn’t. I know they have a busy week this week. But when I analyse Tottenham and know the squad they have, and analyse what might be a team that maybe didn’t play 90 minutes pretty much yesterday. They have a fantastic squad, so I feel that any squad Jose will put out can be very strong.”
Wednesday sees the first of a repeat of matches from this past weekend’s round of Premier League clashes, as Manchester United head back to the AmEx Stadium to face Brighton & Hove Albion just four days after their last-gasp 3-2 win on the South Coast.
Seagulls manager Graham Potter refused to blame Neal Maupay for giving away the injury-time penalty which Bruno Fernandes dispatched to secure victory for the Red Devils: “There’s no blame, there’s no bad feeling. We have to take everything together and he’ll be better for this experience,” said Potter.
“Hopefully we’ll all be better for this experience because it’s been a very traumatic one in terms of how emotionally draining it’s been. We’re obviously heavily punished – that’s how it feels. We have to dust ourselves down quickly and try to focus on the things we did really well because there was a lot there.”
Wednesday also sees two further all-Premier League clashes between in-form Everton and West Ham United, as well as Burnley hosting a Manchester City side stinging from their weekend defeat to Leicester City, while Newcastle United take on lower league opponents in Newport County.
Thursday’s top Carabao Cup match is a repeat meeting of Liverpool and Arsenal at Anfield, with the Reds winning 3-1 over the Gunners in a Monday night league meeting, and backed as favourites for a repeat triumph even though manager Jurgen Klopp is likely to rotate his squad heavily for the midweek match.
“It’s really early in the season and with this performance it is absolutely ‘wow’,” said Klopp. “From the first second, (it was) dominant against a team in form. We had to be careful like hell of the counter-attacks. The football we played was absolutely exceptional. About this game tonight, there is nothing bad to say.”
Thursday also sees a London derby (and repeat of the Championship playoff final) between Brentford and Fulham, as well as Aston Villa hosting Stoke City.
*****
SOURCE: DSTV
