Charlton Athletic are the only non-top flight side remaining in the League Cup as we head towards the last eight stage of the competition. The Addicks beat Premier League opposition in the form of Brighton & Hove Albion 4-3 on penalties in the Round of 16- the only lower ranked team to beat higher ranked opposition in the round.
Non-PL sides struggle
There were five more non- Premier League sides in the previous round apart from Charlton- the Addicks’ fellow League One sides MK Dons and Lincoln, Championship outfits Blackburn and Burnley and fourth tier club Gillingham. All of them had to taste defeat though.
Charlton’s reward for beating the Seagulls is a mouth-watering quarterfinal clash against Erik Ten Hag’s Manchester United at Old Trafford. The Red Devils beat Burnley in the fourth round thanks to goals from Christian Eriksen and Marcus = Rashford. The Clarets had several decent chances of their own, but didn’t take them, and paid the price.
Interestingly, the only side left at this stage who were also present in the competition last year in the QF’s are Leicester. The Foxes brushed aside MK Dons 3-0, with Youri Tielemans, Ayoze Perez and Jamie Vardy all getting on the scoresheet.
Manchester City knocked defending champions Liverpool out of the competition with a thrilling 3-2 win over Jurgen Klopp’s side at the Etihad. Erling Haaland was once again among the goals, as were Riyad Mahrez and Nathan Ake. With LFC’s exit, City are now strong favourites for another Cup title at the likes of Bovada and for good reason- they won it four times in succession between 2018 and 2021 and under Pep Guardiola, have dominated this competition in recent years.
City will play Southampton in the last eight. Saints had to come from behind to beat Lincoln in the previous round, and have home advantage for their clash against Guardiola’s men. It might not be a major advantage though- the South Coast outfit are rooted to the bottom of the table and have managed only one league win at home so far. They’ve also conceded a whopping 16 league goals at St.Mary’s this season- the most of any team in the Premier League at the time of writing.
The home PL table so far- Saints with 16 goals conceded
Interestingly, the last eight stage in 21/22 also had only one non-PL side, and that was Sunderland, who got hammered 5-1 by Arsenal in the quarters. Charlton will be hoping for a better showing against United than what the Black Cats managed against the Gunners, but they will be huge underdogs against a side that is almost sixty places above them in the league ladder. Three of the Addicks’ four wins in the competition so far have come on penalties, and they will be aiming to stretch the Red Devils and possibly take them to spot kicks.
Charlton’s form over the last few weeks hasn’t been too great either. That Cup triumph over Brighton aside, they’ve lost to the likes of Oxford and Bristol Rovers and are languishing in the bottom half of the League One Table.
A total of 21 goals were scored in the fourth round- the Man City Liverpool and Rovers Forest games accounted for five each, with the rest of the six fixtures producing eleven goals between them.
Some intriguing all-PL games coming up
Nottingham Forest against Wolves in the quarters promises to be an intriguing contest, as does Newcastle United against Leicester. The Magpies edged Bournemouth thanks to Adam Smith’s own goal midway through the second half. Wolves left it late to beat Gillingham, with Raul Jimenez’s 77th minute spot kick and Rayan Ait-Nouri’s stoppage time goal giving them a 2-0 win.
Forest have conjured up some fine results in recent weeks, coming from behind to hold Graham Potter’s Chelsea to a draw at the City Ground and then claiming all three points at fellow strugglers Southampton to ease their own relegation fears. Home advantage could also work in NFFC’s favour given that their opponents have won only once on the road in the league so far this season.
Leicester are the only team of the eight remaining not to have conceded a goal so far in the tournament. All of their previous games were against lower league opposition and in-form Newcastle, under Eddie Howe, will be their toughest challenge yet, with the Magpies searching for their first piece of domestic silverware since 1955.
Despite being third in the league behind Arsenal and City, Newcastle have only been beaten once this season in the PL. They have a solid defence and have conceded only 11 times in 18 games this season- fewer than what the Gunners and the Citizens have shipped. St James Park is not an easy place to travel to- no Premier League team has managed to get the better of the Magpies in the North-East this season. The two sides also met in the league on Boxing Day at the King Power, with NUFC running out comfortable 3-0 winners on that occasion