Why Manchester United and Man City are not in the Carabao Cup 2nd round draw

Premier League teams will enter the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening when the second round draw commences but Manchester United and Manchester City will not feature.

The opening round of the competition sees the 72 teams from the Championship, League One and League Two enter into the hat. These teams are then split in half and divided into the north and south sections.

Clubs that have progressed from the first round will join certain top-flight clubs in the second round of the competition. But you are perhaps wondering why United and City will not be joining the competition at this stage.

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MEN Sport has taken a look at why this is the case.

Only 12 Premier League teams who are not in European competitions this season make it into the hat for the second round of the Carabao Cup. Both United and City qualified for the Champions League and so will not join the tournament this week.

The other teams excluded from the second round of the competition are Arsenal, Newcastle United, Liverpool, Brighton and Hove Albion, West Ham United and Aston Villa.

The Manchester rivals will join the competition at the third round stage. A draw to determine their opponents will take place in the week commencing August 28.

Should this draw follow the same schedule as the second round, the draw will take place on Wednesday, August 30.

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