Key events
“Just tuned into Bournemouth v Liverpool on ESPN. It appears to be snowing? Am I hallucinating?” emails Joe Pearson.
“Never mind,” Joe follows up. “My weather app assures me that it is just sideways rain. Yeesh.”
Indeed. In case you are not in the UK and haven’t been talking about weather for the past three days, this is currently sweeping the south coast of the country.
GOAL! West Ham 1-0 Arsenal (Ben White and 16)
The Hammers take the lead through an own goal! Bowen swings a corner in, and White flicks it into his own net at the near post. Ramsdale completely stranded.
Peeeeeep! We are underway in our 7.45pm GMT kick offs:
Bournemouth v Liverpool
Chelsea at Blackburn
Everton v Burnley
Ipswich v Fulham
Mo Salah captains Liverpoolwho are wearing their rascal green-white away kit that looks like a 90s Microsoft screensaver. And not in a good way.
Just a quick note by someone that is unfortunately familiar with Blackburn starting XIs, this is not a strong one at Stamford Bridge even if there are a few first-teamers. If Chelsea don’t win this tonight, there should be an(other) inquest. Adam Wharton does start for Rovers, though. What a player he is.
West Ham 0-0 Arsenal
8 min: Good save from Fabianski! Havertz flicks a header at goal but the former Arsenal keeper turns over the bar to deny the Arsenal forward/attackingmidfielder/whatever he is. The visitors have certainly started the stronger in east London.
Peeeeeep! West Ham v Arsenal is underway. That’s a 7.30pm GMT kick-off, with the rest of the evening’s fixtures starting at 7.45pm.
Oh, and there’s Manchester United v Newcastle starting at 8.15pm, but that’s covered in our other MBM, here.
Arteta has been speaking on Ramsdale …
Every week, I haven’t seen anything different. More determination, more hunger to play, he’s got another opportunity like many others to do what he’s been doing, nothing different”.
… and Emil Smith-Rowe:
We’ve got an issue with him. He felt something in his knee and he started to feel some pain after the game and we are assessing it but yeah, a big worry with him”.
If you know, you know.
“So, then: the Carabao Cup for Ramsdale,” emails Charles Antaki. “Penny for his thoughts. I recall arriving at an exciting new job, ready to bond with new colleagues and be welcomed into the inner circle, only to be told a few days later that there was a shortage of office space, and I would be accommodated in a Portakabin in a distant part of the car park. Admittedly Ramsdale maybe consoled by a weekly wage of rather more than I was earning, but the chagrin might be similar.”
Here’s Barry Glendenning’s preview/sideways glance at tonight’s matches. And if you don’t subscribe to Football Dailywhat on earth are you up to at 5pm (GMT) on a weekday?
More teams …
Ipswich v Fulham
Ipswich: Walton, Donacien, Tuanzebe, Burgess, Clarke, Ball, Taylor, Jackson, Harness, Aluko, Ladapo.
Subs: Edmundson, Chaplin, Slicker, Giraud-Hutchinson, Luongo, Baggott, Hirst, Humphreys, Carr.
Fulham: Rodak, Castagne, De Fougerolles, Bassey, Ballo-Toure, Cairney, Lukic, De Cordova-Reid, Andreas Pereira, Wilson, Rodrigo Muniz.
Subs: Reed, Jimenez, Ream, Iwobi, Benda, Joao Palhinha, Vinicius, Robinson, Tanton.
Chelsea at Blackburn
Chelsea: Sanchez, James, Disasi, Badiashile, Cucurella, Ugochukwu, Gallagher, Fernandez, Palmer, Jackson, Sterling.
Subs: Madueke, Caicedo, Colwill, Gusto, Petrovic, Maatsen, Deivid Washington, Matos, Castledine.
Blackburn: Wahlstedt, Brittain, Carter, Hill, Pickering,
Garrett, Travis, Markanday, Adam Wharton, Moran, Leonard. Subs: Tronstad, Sigurdsson, Dolan, Rankin-Costello, Ennis, Gamble, Scott Wharton, Batty, Hilton.
Whisper it, but David Moyes is sporting his most fashionable look in years. An absolutely gorgeous blazer, cashmere sweater combo. Woof.
A few key changes, especially for Arsenal and Liverpool, but those are six strong teams from the three games we have so far. Good to see.
Team news
West Ham v Arsenal
West Ham: Fabianski, Coufal, Mavropanos, Aguerd, Emerson Palmieri, Soucek, Alvarez, Kudus, Benrahma, Lucas Paqueta, Bowen.
Subs: Cresswell, Ward-Prowse, Fornals, Antonio, Cornet, Ings, Ogbonna, Areola, Kehrer.
Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Kiwior, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Vieira, Jorginho, Havertz, Nelson, Nketiah, Trossard.
Subs: Saliba, Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Cedric, Tomiyasu, Elneny, Hein, Rice.
Bournemouth v Liverpool
Bournemouth: Andrei Radu, Smith, Mepham, Zabarnyi, Kerkez, Scott, Billing, Semenyo, Christie, Kluivert, Solanke.
Subs: Brooks, Rothwell, Ouattara, Tavernier, Moore, Traore, Senesi, Aarons, Plain.
Liverpool: Kelleher, Gomez, Matip, Quansah, Tsimikas, Elliott, Endo, Jones, Salah, Gakpo, Szoboszlai.
Subs: Van Dijk, Konate, Nunez, Mac Allister, Adrian, Jota, Gravenberch, Scanlon,Alexander-Arnold.
Everton v Burnley
Everton: Pickford, Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Harrison, Garner, Onana, McNeil, Danjuma, Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Patterson, Keane, Virginia, Beto, Doucoure, Godfrey, Gueye, Chermiti, Dobbin.
Burnley: Muric, Vitinho, O’Shea, Al Dakhil, Delcroix, Berge, Cullen, Brown Larsen, Ndayishimiye, Rodriguez, Redmond.
Subs: Taylor, Cork, Brownhill, Roberts, Zaroury, Amdouni, Vigouroux, Massengo, Odobert.
More teams when we have them.
Preamble
Hello world!
We have six VERY respectable League Cup fixtures for your consideration. We’re only into the first day of November, but this is the chance to reach the quarter-finals of a major trophy, and that is nothing to be sniffed at.
While I completely understand that some teams prioritise their league fixtures in the early rounds of this competition, I think it is borderline ridiculous for youth teamers and reserves to be employed at this stage. Teams such as Southampton, Nottingham Forest, Brentford, Leicester City and Burton Albion have all reached the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup in recent years – sometimes all you need is a good performance, a bit of luck and a kindly draw to make it to Wembley.
Some of these sides tonight haven’t won a major trophy in decades. Teams like Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea have good enough squad to still field an international second string. It would be baffling to be if Newcastle, Everton, Bournemouth, Burnley, Ipswich, Fulham, Blackburn and West Ham didn’t give it right old go tonight. Let’s hope they do.
Who will earn the right to potentially face Port Vale or Middlesbrough – victors over Mansfield Town and Exeter City respectively in Tuesday’s ties – in the last eight? Do stick about to find out.
The quarter-final draw will follow this set of matches, and will be covered by this blog. Don’t say we don’t spoil you.
7.45pm GMT kick off unless stated
West Ham v Arsenal (7.30pm)
Bournemouth v Liverpool
Chelsea at Blackburn
Everton v Burnley
Ipswich v Fulham
Manchester United v Newcastle (8.15pm – see our separate MBM on that game)
