By Antony Jordan
This midweek sees the last 16 teams participating in England’s League Cup do battle around the UK and the best thing is that the draw has thrown up some massive clashes involving some of the biggest sides in the Premier League.
We’re taking a look at the biggest three clashes from the eight playing on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, including the Liverpool v Tottenham and Manchester derby games, with online sportsbook Pinnacle.com to provide our best EFL Cup picks.
Liverpool v Tottenham: 1.67 – 4.22 – 5.25
This match at Anfield sees the meeting of the two highest placed sides in the Premier League as Liverpool’s 2-1 win over West Brom at the weekend saw them move to third in the league, missing out on top spot on goal difference alone, while Tottenham are one place and one point behind their hosts this Tuesday night after drawing 0-0 at Bournemouth. As well as both sides being in excellent league form right now they have both cruised through this competition so far and with their last three meetings all ending level we are confident of another closely fought and intriguing match.
With no European competition this season Liverpool began their EFL Cup in the second round as they travelled to Championship side Burton and defeated them 5-0 then saw off Burton’s local rivals Derby County 3-0, also away from home, to book their place in this stage of the competition against the North Londoners. With Tottenham in Champions League action they began at round three and thumped League One Gillingham 5-0 to face Liverpool this Tuesday night.
Both sides have rested players so far in this competition and this is likely to continue as both sides have tricky games coming up in the EPL this weekend, away to Crystal Palace and home to champions Leicester respectively, and we feel that this’ll weaken both sides at the back but still leave them with enough attacking ability to score goals – as both have done so far in this competition – we feel that the value on this Liverpool v Tottenham game is to be found on the goals market.
Our money is on Over 2.5 & 3 goals (half stake on Over 2.5, half stake on Over 3) @ 1.91.
Man United v Man City: 2.59 – 3.41 – 2.89
The biggest game from the last 16 stage of the EFL Cup sees these two Manchester giants clash at Old Trafford for the second time this season following City’s 2-1 victory on this ground earlier this as Pep Guardiola got the better of Jose Mourinho in their first Manchester derby experiences. Both of these managers will be desperate to bounce back from a poor weekend and a poor run of form respectively with victory in this match to move into the Quarter Finals, but who will it be that progresses?
United suffered a heavy 4-0 loss at Chelsea on Sunday, but they have been in better form at home with three wins and a draw in their last four games at Old Trafford since losing to City at the start of September, with ten goals scored. They did find it difficult going in their first EFL Cup match at Northampton Town as they won 3-1 but were under pressure at different times after resting players, but ultimately there was enough to progress. The big question is how will they recover from their weekend loss at Stamford Bridge?
While United were beaten during the weekend, City come into this match having failed to win in five matches and they are making some poor decisions that are costing them goals. Claudio Bravo’s poor kicking brought after a red card and collapse against Barcelona last week while a John Stones gave Southampton the lead during the weekend before the match ended 1-1 and, of course, they dominated United in the last meeting at Old Trafford before Bravo allowed Zlatan Ibrahimovic to score and almost allowed more goals in with further poor play. United will remember this and will be confident of netting more goals, but with them likely to rest players we can see both of these teams going all out for the win at Old Trafford and we see both teams capable of winning this match with plenty of goals being scored. We’re incapable of choosing if City will make a mistake to lose the game or if they’ll be good enough to defeat their neighbours once again, but we are all over goals to bet netted at Old Trafford.
Our best Manchester derby bet is back Over 2.5 goals at odds of 2.06.
West Ham v Chelsea: 4.56 – 3.97 – 1.81
East and West London does battle at The London Stadium for a place in the EFL last eight stage on Wednesday evening in this West Ham v Chelsea clash as both teams look to go a fourth successive match unbeaten. The League Cup has not gone easily for both teams in this game so far this season as West Ham’s only match saw them need an injury time winner from Dmitri Payet to see off League Two Accrington Stanley while Chelsea’s two games saw a narrow 3-2 win over third tier Bristol Rovers and then coming from two goals down last time around to beat Leicester in extra time to book their place against The Hammers this week.
With these results, as well as Chelsea’s narrow 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge earlier this season and a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge and a 2-1 West Ham win at Upton Park last season, we feel that this game will be a close matchup in the side’s first clash at The London Stadium. West Ham have beaten Crystal Palace and Sunderland in their last two games without conceding a goal, while – since their 3-0 away loss to Arsenal – Chelsea have scored nine goals in their last three games all of which have been won with clean sheets. Their best victory was the 4-0 beating of Manchester United this weekend, but with them having beaten only Hull City in their last four away matches, we feel that a resurgent Hammers side can secure their passage to the Quarter Finals of the cup on home soil this season to cheer the West Ham faithful something to cheer about.