Chelsea and Tottenham Enter Carabao Cup Second Round Draw

Chelsea and Tottenham do not usually arrive this early to the Carabao Cup party. Tonight, they are through the door with everyone else, stripped of the protection that European football normally provides and thrown straight into the second-round draw.

Tenth and 17th in last season’s Premier League. No Champions League, no Europa League, no Conference League. The punishment is an August date with England’s most unpredictable domestic competition.

At Home Park, as Plymouth and Exeter limber up for a Devon derby, the next step of their season will quietly be set.

London giants in the hat

The draw for the second round takes place tonight, Monday August 10, 2026, at around 7.20pm BST, live on Sky Sports in the build-up to that West Country clash. Presenter David Prutton will steer it, with Jobi McAnuff and Jamie Mackie reaching into the bowl that could throw up anything from a lower-league slog on a tight pitch to a Premier League showdown before the leaves have even started to fall.

Chelsea and Spurs are part of an 11-strong Premier League contingent entering at this stage. They are joined by Brentford, Fulham, Newcastle, Everton, Leeds and Nottingham Forest, plus newly-promoted trio Coventry, Ipswich and Hull.

For all of them, this is an opportunity and a reminder. Opportunity, because the Carabao Cup has often provided a first taste of silverware or momentum for a new project. Reminder, because a bad year in the league means no free pass.

West Ham, Burnley and Wolves, relegated from the top flight last season, have already been dragged into the grind from the first round.

The big guns wait

The holders, Manchester City, are nowhere near tonight’s draw. Nor are Arsenal, Manchester United, Aston Villa or Liverpool. All five are in the Champions League and, with them, safely parked until the third round.

Bournemouth, Sunderland and Crystal Palace, all in the Europa League, plus Brighton in the Conference League, complete the group of nine English clubs with European commitments. They will not feel the jeopardy of this competition until next month.

So this second round belongs to the rest. To clubs trying to rebuild, to managers looking for a foothold, to squads where fringe players and academy graduates will smell an early chance.

How to follow the draw

For those wanting to watch it unfold, Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Ultra HDR will carry the draw live. Sky Sports subscribers can also stream it via the Sky Go app.

For those glued to their phones instead of the TV, Standard Sport will run a live blog charting every ball pulled and every tie made.

One detail that still matters: the Carabao Cup remains regionalised through the first and second rounds. Northern and Southern sections will keep travel manageable and spice up local rivalries before the draw opens up from the third round onwards.

Who’s already through?

The first round has already done its usual job of trimming the field and springing the odd scare, even if most of the bigger names survived.

In the Northern Section, Middlesbrough edged Wrexham 1-0, while Wolves brushed aside Port Vale 3-0. Sheffield Wednesday saw off Bolton 1-0, Stoke beat Oldham 2-0 and Sheffield United cruised past Mansfield 3-0. Burnley needed penalties to see off Notts County after a 1-1 draw, as did Barnsley against Wigan, Stockport against Doncaster, Preston against Huddersfield and Salford against Shrewsbury. West Brom thumped Rotherham 4-1, Lincoln stunned Derby 2-1 away, and Blackpool, Blackburn, Bradford, Crewe and Fleetwood all booked their places.

In the Southern Section, Walsall’s 1-0 win at Bristol City was one of the standout results. Stevenage came from behind to beat Wycombe 2-1, while Cambridge beat Barnet 2-1. Millwall knocked out QPR on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Loftus Road. Luton swept past Gillingham 3-0, Cardiff edged a five-goal thriller against Swindon, and Peterborough, Watford, Norwich, Leyton Orient, Reading, Birmingham, West Ham, Leicester, Charlton and Southampton all progressed. AFC Wimbledon squeezed through on penalties against Newport.

Plymouth’s tie with Exeter, which frames tonight’s draw, is the last piece of the first-round jigsaw.

Ball numbers for the second round will be confirmed once that final game is done, but the shape of the competition is already clear: 35 first-round winners, joined by those 11 Premier League sides, all waiting to see where late August will take them.

What comes next

Second-round ties will be played in the week commencing August 24, back in the familiar midweek slot that has long defined this competition’s place in the calendar.

For Chelsea and Tottenham, that week will bring more than just another fixture. It will bring a test of depth, of attitude, of how seriously they treat a trophy that has rescued many a season before.

Fall flat here, and the questions start early. Make a run, and the mood around the club can shift in a matter of weeks.

Tonight’s draw will tell them where that journey begins.