If Carling did giant killings...

In case you missed it, the Carling Cup Third Round draw was made on Saturday. This is the stage where the teams competing in Europe enter the competition.

The thing that strikes me about this draw is the great chance for a smaller or non-premiership club going all the way. In the previous round, Fulham, Manchester City, Middlesborough and Wigan all took an early bath, and this Third Round draw will see a few more premiership teams eliminated due to all premiership fixtures.

Blackburn v Chelsea looks like the pick of the bunch, although Newcastle v Portsmouth has potential. Charlton host Bolton and Liverpool host Reading.

For other premiership clubs, there are some tricky looking fixtures, or ‘potential banana skins’ as Richard Keys would say. Crewe v Manchester United and West Brom v Arsenal may not sound too tricky for the premiership ‘giants’, but with Champions League action abound it may mean the return of the ‘reserve squad’ routines from them both.

In form Spurs take there impressive away record all the way to Milton Keynes to play the Dons, West Ham travel to Chesterfield and Leicester host the Midands derby with ‘The Villa’.

For some reason, Leeds v Southend catches my eye, but I cant work out why...

The draw in full >>>

Ties to be played the week commencing 23 October, once Sky Sports have selected their favourites for a giant-killing. I predict the Sky TV outside broadcasting units will be heading towards Milton Keynes…