EFL Cup

The EFL Carabao cup quarterfinals will be played Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Newcastle visits Stamford Bridge on Tuesday where Chelsea will try to string together three consecutive winning home matches (across all competitions) for the first time this season. Newcastle, however, smashed the Blues in a league match at St. James Park less than a month ago. Fulham visits streaking Everton in the other Tuesday quarterfinal matchup of Premier League teams. The Toffees have been white hot, running off four consecutive victories in the Premier League. Fulham, meanwhile, had been scoring goals for fun during a four-match run where the Cottagers scored 16 goals. That run ended with a 3-0 whitewashing by Newcastle on the weekend. Port Vale hosts Middlesbrough in the only Tuesday quarterfinal not involving a Premier league side. Wednesday’s final quarterfinal match will see Liverpool back at Anfield, the site of its goalless draw with Manchester United on Sunday. The challenge midweek for the Reds will be a potentially tough out in West Ham. The Hammers dumped Arsenal out of the Carabao cup to advance to the quarterfinals and have subsequently clinched first place in their Europa League group. West Ham has also won four of its last six Premier League matches, losing only in an anomalous blowout defeat to Fulham during that run. Liverpool, which won the tournament two years ago, holds the record for the most EFL/Carabao Cup trophies with nine. Despite the sting of last weekend’s home draw, Liverpool is yet to lose at Anfield in any competition this season.