Is City’s name on the Carabao Cup again?

The Carabao Cup returns this week and the question remains: is anyone capable of breaking Manchester City’s stranglehold on the competition? Pep Guardiola’s men have dominated over the past two seasons, beating Arsenal 3-0 in the 2018 final and then Chelsea on penalties a year later, and they are looking up for the cup once again.
Despite priorities lying elsewhere, such is the strength of the City squad they have still managed to go all the way and win the cup in four out of the last six years and will be bidding for number five this season.
They looked impressive again when overcoming a potential banana skin at Preston in the last round and it is hard to see Southampton stopping them at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night. They are once again the team to beat.
Much could depend on the luck of the draw if City do go through although there is certainly enough quality left in the competition for there to be another name on the trophy this year.
Only Chelsea and Manchester United have stopped City over the last six years. However, only one of them will go through to the quarter-finals as they face off at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.
Frank Lampard will be desperate to win his first trophy in his first season with Chelsea, while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer continues to feel the heat following a disappointing start to the season.
Liverpool take on Arsenal and it will be interesting to see how serious Jurgen Klopp takes the competition with bigger fish to fry. As for the Gunners, Unai Emery is in need of a lift and could put out a strong side at Anfield.
Not since Swansea in 2013 has one of the more unfashionable clubs lifted the League Cup, but there is a chance that sequence could be broken this season.
Leicester City, Wolves and Aston Villa could sense an opportunity to go all the way if the likes of City take their eye off the ball.
The Foxes, in particular, have impressed this season and although they have their eyes on the top four, noises from the camp at the start of the season suggested they also want a piece of silverware, and this could be their best chance.
Wolves and Villa could be thinking the same but they face each other, so the dream will end for one of those teams on Wednesday night.
Such has been the form of Watford and Everton so far this season, it is hard to see the winner of that fourth-round tie going much further.
The romance of the cup is well and truly alive, with Crawley, Colchester, Oxford, Sunderland and Burton all in with a shout of making the quarter-finals, and possibly the semis with a bit of luck.
But a Premier League club is sure to have their name on the trophy this year.