The Carabao Cup semi-finals take place this week with all four teams dreaming of a date at Wembley and a chance to lift silverware, as well as guaranteeing a spot in European football next season.
On Tuesday night, Brentford travel to Tottenham Hotspur in the first of the semis, while Manchester United host neighbours City in a derby in the other semi-final.
While the semis usually take place over two legs, this year it’s just one 90 minutes to decide who reaches the big event to help clubs cope with a condensed fixture schedule.
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The last five seasons have seen the Manchester clubs dominate this competition, with City winning four of them and United the other – and Pep Guardiola’s team have won three in a row, looking now to emulate Liverpool’s record of four successive League Cup wins achieved in the 1980s.
Jose Mourinho has already spoken about his intention to try and make this his first trophy with Tottenham, while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has also encouraged his team to prove they can be winners. While there may be the bigger priority for Brentford to earn promotion to the top flight this season, it might just be that showing they can compete against top teams gives them the impetus to achieve their league objectives this term.
Here’s everything you need to know about the League Cup final.
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When is it?
The final will take place at Wembley on Sunday, 25 April 2021. The kick-off time is currently scheduled for 4pm.
Where can I watch it?
Both the semi-finals and the final itself will be shown live via Sky Sports. The games will also be streamed via the Sky Go app.
If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.
Why is it later than normal?
The match was put back two months by the EFL in the hope that more fans would be allowed to attend. The original date was scheduled for 28 February, but it was changed in December.
Will fans be allowed in?
With lockdown restrictions in England still on the increase at the start of the year, no supporters are allowed into any elite-level matches at present.
The current plans are due to last until March, after which time a new assessment will be made on the restrictions to wider society and where the public may gather in numbers.
It is unlikely the EFL will announce any definitive ticketing plans until after this time, but during the regionalised ‘tiers’ there were supporters allowed into a number of clubs. Liverpool, Everton and others had up to 2,000 socially distanced fans in per match for a short while.
Who is going to be in the final?
Spurs face Brentford on Tuesday 6 January in the first semi-final. The winners of that game will play the winners of Manchester United or Manchester City, with those clubs facing each other one day later.
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