Football fans have grown accustomed to witnessing the Carabao Cup draw taking place in rather unusual locations (see Morrisons’ Colindale branch in 2019) but the upcoming quarter-final draw will be held in an actual television studio for a change.
Compared to some of the other weird and wacky venues that have been previously chosen, the Soccer AM studios, situated within Sky’s campus in Isleworth, seems like quite an obvious place for such an event to take place in.
Co-presenters John “Fenners” Fendley and Jimmy Bullard, a runner-up in the competition back in 2006 during his Wigan Athletic days, and actor Danny Mays, known best for his role as Sergeant Danny Waldron in BBC One drama Line Of Duty, will pluck the balls out on Saturday’s show.
“I’m absolutely buzzing to be making the draw, it’s a real honour,” Bullard said. “One of the proudest moments in my career was playing in the League Cup final in 2006 with Wigan Athletic. Even though the result didn’t go our way, to play in a Cup Final in front of all of my family and almost 70,000 fans was a very special occasion.”
Carabao Cup quarter-final draw
Date: Saturday 30 October
Time: 10.30am-12pm
TV channel: Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Football
Stream details: You can watch Sky’s sports channels via NOW with a day pass start at £9.99 or a monthly subscription costing £33.99 a month
Manchester United have already fallen by the wayside in this season’s competition, but there is a strong nucleus of Premier League clubs still in it, including perennial winners Manchester City, current league leaders Chelsea and in-form Liverpool.
Of the 16 remaining clubs, only four are outside the top-flight – Championship trio Preston, QPR and Stoke and League One Sunderland.
The quarter-final matches are scheduled to take place on the week commencing Monday 20 December.
Pick of the last 16 – Arsenal vs Leeds
Mikel Arteta believes there has been a “click” with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as he praised the way the Arsenal captain has recently embraced his role within the squad.
Aubameyang hit his fourth Premier League goal of the season as Arsenal beat Aston Villa 3-1 on Friday night.
He also scored a hat-trick in the Carabao Cup second-round win at West Brom but is unlikely to feature in the fourth-round clash with Leeds on Tuesday night.
The 32-year-old is always a goal threat but Arteta has been pleased with what he has seen from Aubameyang’s all-round game in recent weeks.
“I wouldn’t go to the goals, again it is what Auba is transmitting on the pitch,” he replied when asked if Aubameyang is rediscovering his best form.
“I have never seen Auba transmit what he is doing now. It is a click.
“Apart from the goals, the celebration when they put the ball in the net, do you see the way he runs, the purpose he has to press the ball and when he takes it his movement, his link, how is leading the game?
“That is when he is changing the rest, not when he is static and then he puts the ball in the net. I prefer this Auba.”
Spanish forward Rodrigo has praised the “amazing” support of Leeds fans ahead of their Carabao Cup tie at Arsenal.
Rodrigo scored an added-time penalty to secure a 1-1 Premier League draw against Wolves at Elland Road on Saturday, a result which kept Marcelo Bielsa’s side three points above the relegation zone.
“I think we deserved more from the game,” said Rodrigo, who held his nerve to convert the penalty awarded for Nelson Semedo’s foul on 19-year-old substitute Joe Gelhardt. “I thought we played really well and dominated the game from the beginning, until the end.
“Unfortunately we conceded a goal almost from nothing. It’s true that we deserved more, but also true that a goal in the last minute and with this atmosphere, we feel like we won the game.
“I am really happy for the goal, to score the penalty, especially in that moment. The most important thing is always the team and we deserved more. Everyone played really, really well after a bad game against Southampton, so that is the way we have to keep going for the next game.”
Speaking about the atmosphere inside a packed Elland Road, Rodrigo added: “It was amazing. We were pushing on the field, and the fans felt that, so they pushed us on.
“I think that for us today the support was really, really important to keep going. To maintain the faith in the win or drawing the match, and I think they helped us a lot.”
Leeds will be without the injured Patrick Bamford, Luke Ayling, Junior Firpo and Robin Koch at the Emirates Stadium but Kalvin Phillips could feature for the first time since the start of the month.
Additional reporting by PA
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