5 Tips for Tuesday’s League Cup Action

Brentford take on Forest Green at the Brentford Community Stadium, with both teams looking to build on what has been strong starts to the season for the pair.

The Bees have played just two matches in the Premier League, beating Arsenal 2-0 on the opening game of the season via goals from Sergi Canos and Christian Norgaard, before adding another point to their tally with a 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Forest Green are the only team in League Two having beaten Sutton United 2-1 on the opening day of the season via a stoppage-time winner from Ebou Adams, as well as defeating Walsall and Rochdale 2-1 and 3-1, before hammering Crawley Town 6-3 at the weekend where Nicky Cadden managed a hattrick.

In the last round, Rovers qualified by beating Bristol City 6-5 on penalties at the New Lawn Stadium having drawn 2-2 in the 90 minutes via Regan Hendry’s 96th-minute equaliser.

Two Premier League sides go head-to-head at Vicarage Road in the second round of the League Cup as Watford host Crystal Palace.

The Hornets have had a decent start to the Premier League under Xisco Munoz, earning three points from a possible six, having beaten Aston Villa on the opening day of the season 3-2, via goals from summer signings Emmanuel Dennis and Cucho Hernandez, as well as Ismaila Sarr. They did, however, get soundly beaten 2-0 by Brighton on Saturday though.

Meanwhile, Patrick Vieira is looking for his first win as manager of the Eagles, having seen his side being thumped against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge by a 3-0 scoreline on the opening weekend of the season, as well as only managing a 0-0 draw at home to Brentford, which in all truth is the sort of match which they have to be winning if they are to stay in the top flight for another season.

Championship outfit Cardiff City hosts Brighton at the Cardiff City Stadium in what will be a closely fought contest.

Mick McCarthy’s side are currently sixth in the Championship after four matches, winning two of them against Millwall 3-1 and Blackpool 2-0, whilst drawing the other two fixtures against Barnsley 1-1 and Peterborough United 2-2. At present, Bluebirds centre-back Aden Flint is actually the top scorer in the division with four goals in four matches of which have all been headers.

To get through to this round, Cardiff narrowly beat Sutton United 3-2 at home where Marley Watkins scored a brace, whilst Josh Murphy also got on the scoresheet.

Brighton have started the season well under Graham Potter, as they are just one of four teams to have won their opening two league matches following victories against Burnley and Watford via 2-1 and 2-0 scorelines with French striker Neal Maupay scoring in each match.

Leeds United face Crewe Alexandra at Elland Road on Tuesday and come into this match as firm favourites due to their league status and quality of their side.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side got off to a slow start to the season, having been thumped 5-1 by Manchester United at Old Trafford where Luke Ayling’s stunning strike turned out to be a mere consolation and the Whites picked up their first point of the season with a 2-2 draw away at Everton, where Mateusz Klich and Raphinha both scored equalisers.

Crewe are currently 22nd in League One after four matches, picking up one point which came in a 1-1 home draw with Cheltenham Town on the opening day of the season. Since then, David Artell’s side have been beaten 2-0 by Portsmouth, 1-0 at Oxford United and suffered a 1-0 home loss to Accrington Stanley last time out.

The visitors only win of the season came in their narrow 1-0 victory against Hartlepool United at Victoria Park thanks to a strike from Callum Ainley.

A player who is expected to start against Crewe is Spain international Rodrigo Moreno. The Spaniard was used for 45 minutes of Leeds’ defeat to United and will be expected to start in the League Cup. The 30-year-old started in his side’s home defeat to Hull in this round last season and will be hoping to add to the nine goals that he has scored since his return to England last summer.

The final game on this list of tips sees Norwich City take on Bournemouth at Carrow Road.

The Canaries will be hoping to use this match as a confidence booster having lost their opening two matches of the Premier League season 3-0 to Liverpool and 5-0 to Manchester City, meaning that they will also be looking to score their first goal of the campaign as well as a victory.

Scott Parker has started life at Bournemouth in decent fashion, having managed eight points out of a possible 12. The Cherries beat both Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City 2-1 and 2-0, as well as drawing 2-2 twice with West Bromwich Albion and Blackpool. Bournemouth’s first game of the season was back on 31st July in a 5-0 demolition of MK Dons at the Vitality in the first round of the League Cup, where David Brooks, Dominic Solanke, Philip Billing and Christian Saydee all got on the scoresheet.