Forest to host Leeds in EFL Cup second-round draw
Nottingham Forest will host Leeds in the second round of the Carabao Cup after the draw announced on 10 August 2026. It is the only all-Premier League tie in the second round of the competition.
Four-time winners Nottingham Forest were paired with Leeds, while Chelsea, who have won the competition five times, will welcome League One Luton to Stamford Bridge. Tottenham will host Championship side Charlton. Everton will visit Preston North End, where David Moyes began his managerial career.
Newcastle were drawn to face West Bromwich Albion and Fulham will play AFC Wimbledon at Craven Cottage. Brentford have an away trip to Birmingham City and Ipswich will play League One Leicester. In the southern section, West Ham, who beat Portsmouth in Saturday's first round, travel to Championship Southampton.
The second-round draw was split across northern and southern sections. That structure dictated the geographic distribution of ties across the draw. The matches were arranged with regional considerations in mind to determine pairings for this stage.
Television scheduling added a complication after Sky Sports chose Fulham v Chelsea for live Premier League broadcast on Monday, 24 August. Neither Fulham nor Chelsea are in European competition and both enter the Carabao Cup in the second round, which creates the prospect of each club playing two games in the midweek. Ordinarily, EFL Cup ties would be played on the Thursday, allowing 72 hours' rest before weekend fixtures, a timing that would influence the Premier League weekend schedule.
There have already been knock-on changes to fixtures: Fulham's match at Sunderland was switched to the Sunday and Chelsea v Brighton was chosen by Sky for the Sunday. Both Fulham and Chelsea were then drawn at home in the Carabao Cup, and they are not supposed to play at home on the same day. "The police will have to make a concession, or the EFL will have to get creative."
The draw and broadcast choices have created very short-notice disruption for eight EFL clubs. The opponents of Fulham and Chelsea, Wimbledon and Luton respectively, are in League One action on the Saturday after the ties; if one or both Carabao Cup ties are scheduled for the Thursday, those Saturday League One games would ordinarily move to the Sunday. A full programme of League One fixtures the following Tuesday could force a further four matches to move to Wednesday, leaving teams facing the prospect of playing two games within 48 hours or supporters encountering displaced fixtures.
All second-round ties are due to take place in the midweek of the week commencing Monday, 24 August. The nine English clubs involved in Europe this season will enter the competition in the third round.
