Carabao Cup draw simulator: Arsenal handed tough away test, Liverpool get glamour tie
The Carabao Cup third round draw takes place on Wednesday evening - and our simulation of the draw brought up some interesting results for Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City.
All three teams are part of the nine-strong list that have earned automatic qualification for the third round due to playing in European competitions.
The second round fixture schedule began on Tuesday night, with Premier League sides Sunderland, Leeds, West Ham and Bournemouth all being knocked out.
In the Championship, meanwhile, Wrexham, Southampton, Millwall and Swansea were among the sides to progress, though Birmingham and Stoke suffered surprise home defeats to newly-promoted League One opposition in Port Vale and Bradford respectively.
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Four matches take place on Wednesday, with Everton taking on League Two Mansfield and Manchester United facing a trip to another fourth-tier side in Grimsby Town.
The third round draw will be held after the latter fixture, which is being broadcast live on Sky Sports from 8pm.
Ahead of that draw, we did our own simulation - with some notable results.
Carabao Cup third round draw simulated
One of the highlighted fixtures of our draw is undoubtedly a trip to Premier League champions Liverpool for Wrexham.
Phil Parkinson's side defeated Hull on penalties in round one before twice coming from behind to beat Preston North End 3-2 at Deepdale on Tuesday.
Arsenal, meanwhile, take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in our simulation, while Manchester City travel to Burnley in what would be another intriguing matchup.
There is another all-Premier League tie in Aston Villa versus Wolves, while the winner of Everton versus Mansfield would travel to Championship crisis club Sheffield Wednesday.
The Owls knocked out first division opposition in Leeds on penalties on Tuesday, despite fielding four players whose only experience of senior football is in this season's competition.
"If you saw the line-ups beforehand, you would've NEVER thought it was possible."
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) August 26, 2025
Sheffield Wednesday are through to the next round of the Carabao Cup! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/oBClsAoqhR
Out of the starting XI, only Jamal Lowe and emergency loan goalkeeper signing Ethan Horvath are above the age of the 20.
Here is the draw in full:
- Grimsby Town/Manchester United vs Barnsley
- Swansea City vs Oxford United/Brighton
- Newcastle United vs Bradford City
- Crystal Palace vs Arsenal
- Cambridge United vs Millwall
- Huddersfield Town vs Cardiff City
- Fulham/Bristol City vs Tottenham Hotspur
- Nottingham Forest vs Lincoln City
- Wycombe Wanderers vs Brentford
- Aston Villa vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Liverpool vs Wrexham
- Sheffield Wednesday vs Everton/Mansfield Town
- Chelsea vs Doncaster Rovers
- Burnley vs Manchester City
- Southampton vs Wigan Athletic
- Port Vale vs Reading
Topics: Carabao Cup, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Everton, Wrexham
Ryan Smart