On Wednesday, August 28th at approximately 22:15 BST, a draw will take place to determine the third round of the League Cup, with Arsenal joining the competition at that stage.
Yet due to clashes with the expanded Champions League and Europa League, it would be impossible to schedule a match between a Champions League club and a Europa League club on the third round dates – September 16th and 23rd.
As a result, the EFL have taken the decision to seed the draw, not just preventing Champions League clubs from facing Europa League clubs, but also stopping a Champions League club from facing another team from the competition.
What that means in practice is that Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur will all be kept apart for this round.
Those six teams will be drawn out in a ‘pre-draw’, determining whether each of them will be home or away.
The main draw will then begin by drawing out each of the six teams and their non-Champions League/Europa League opponent, before going on to the other 10 ties not involving a Champions League or Europa League club.
Arsenal will be ball 1 in the draw, and the Premier League clubs they could face include Brighton, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, and Leicester City.
Ipswich Town, Southampton, Brentford, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, West Ham United, Bournemouth, and Wolves could also join the draw, depending on the results of their matches on Wednesday evening.
From the fourth round onwards, the draw will be completely open as usual.
The pre-draw for the European teams will be on Sky Sports before Nottingham Forest’s tie against Newcastle United. The main draw will be after that game.