I can’t believe it, but we’re already talking about the Carabao Cup. It feels early, doesn’t it feel early? That’s probably because Tottenham are actually in the 2nd round since they finished outside of Europe. The draw just completed, and Spurs drew a peach — home to Charlton Athletic.
That’s a good draw. You’d like to avoid Championship and Premier League clubs in the early rounds of the League Cup, but Charlton finished 19th out of 24 teams in the table last season. They weren’t very good — their leading scorer, midfielder Sonny Carey, had just eight goals last season, and they’ll be going up against a Spurs team with something to prove at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Can’t ask for much more than that — Spurs get a low-finishing second division team at home and avoid clubs like Chelsea, West Ham, or any number of tiny giant-killers in waiting at their minuscule home grounds. It’s good.
This is the first time Tottenham has played Charlton since a 3-0 win for Spurs in the FA Cup back in 2011.
Here’s the whole draw for the 2nd round of the Carabao Cup.
Northern division
Stoke City vs. Hull City
Newcastle vs. West Brom
Blackburn Rovers vs. Sheffield United
Nottingham Forest vs. Leeds
Doncaster Rovers vs. Middlesbrough
Barnsley vs. Crewe Alexandria
Preston North End vs. Everton
Blackpool vs. Lincoln City
Sheffield Wednesday vs. Wolves
Bradford City vs. Burnley
Fleetwood Town vs. Shrewsbury Town
Southern division
Walsall vs. Leyton Orient
Ipswich vs. Leicester
Cardiff City vs. Norwich
Stevenage vs. Reading
Cambridge United vs. Millwall
Birmingham City vs. Brentford
Southampton vs. West Ham
Watford vs. Peterborough
Fulham vs. Wimbledon
Plymouth Argyle/Exeter City vs. Coventry City
Chelsea vs. Luton
Tottenham vs. Charlton
All told there aren’t too many tasty matchups in this draw. The closest might be Nottingham Forest vs. Leeds United in the Northern division — unless I missed something that’s the only match up between two Premier League clubs in this round. We’ll likely get more of that in Round 3 when the rest of the Premier League joins the fray.
The 2nd round matchups will take place the week of August 24; exact dates have not yet been confirmed.