Changes to Carabao Cup third round draw set to benefit Aston Villa

The Carabao Cup third round draw will take place on Wednesday evening and this is is the stage of the competition where Aston Villa will start their league cup journey. Alongside Villa, defending champions Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea will also enter the competition at this stage. The other thirteen Premier League clubs have entered from the start of round two which began last night and will conclude prior to tonight's third round draw.

There are some important details ahead of the draw that Villa fans will need to look out for. One of those things in particular will come as very welcome news to the fans.

New Carabao Cup third round draw explained

The draw is set to take place just after 10pm on Wednesday 28th August following the conclusion of Nottingham Forest's second round battle with Newcastle United. The draw can be seen live on Sky Sports Main Event.

This season the draw is to be made in two different stages. Part one involves the teams playing in this season's UEFA Champions League and Europa League and these teams will be placed in bowl one. The other 26 sides that remain in the competition after round two will be placed in bowl two.

Teams in bowl one (Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham and Aston Villa) cannot be drawn to play against one another in the third round. These teams will be pre-drawn in order to determine whether they will play at home or away and separated into six different ties.

Then, the first six teams that are drawn out of the hat in bowl two will play one of the six teams from bowl one. After the first six are pulled out of the hat, the remaining teams will be drawn to play each other like normal.

Villa's miserable recent Carabao Cup history

Aston Villa do not possess the most handsome record in this competition in years gone by and will therefore be grateful at the improved chances of a favourable third round draw this season. Last season saw Aston Villa finish fourth in the Premier League and have an outstanding year. However, they fell at the first hurdle in the Carabao Cup losing 2-1 to Everton at Villa Park.

Villa have not progressed past the fourth round of the competition since making the final in 2020 where they narrowly lost to Manchester City. In fact, since losing to Manchester United in the League Cup final back in 2010 Aston Villa have made it past the fourth round only three times in nearly 15 years. Here is a selection of some of Villa's biggest blunders in the competition in that time.

2020/21 - Aston Villa 0-1 Stoke City (4th round)

2018/19 - Burton Albion 1-0 Aston Villa (2nd round)

2016/17 - Luton Town 3-1 Aston Villa (1st round)

2014/15 - Aston Villa 0-1 Leyton Orient (2nd round)

20212/13 - Aston Villa 3-4 (agg) Bradford (Semi-Finals)

2010/11 - Birmingham City 2-1 Aston Villa (Quarter-Finals)

Villa will certainly be hoping for a more favourable draw for the third round as a result of a tweak to the usual third round draw format and avoid another potentially embarrassing exit from the competition. Under Unai Emery, Villa are likely to take cup competitions seriously despite their participation in the UEFA Champions League and Villa fans are desperate to see the club embark on a good cup run and lift some silverware.

UTV