Welcome to the Carabao Cup, where winners lose and losers win

As Premier League clubs continue to come to grips with Covid-19 and a fixture backlog, progress in the Carabao Cup may not be in everyone’s best interest, writes Jamie Braidwood

Jurgen Klopp has criticised the packed schedule (AFP via Getty Images)

Gather round, gather round, for the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup are here. Win and your reward is at least one more match, potentially even a two-legged semi-final, at a time when the fixture schedule is already bursting at the seams. Lose and, well, you could be better off, actually.

As Premier League clubs met on Monday to confirm they will push through with its relentless festive programme, despite Covid-19 causing chaos throughout the top flight, the Carabao Cup remained unmoved, lingering in the background while arriving sharply up ahead.

The prospect of three matches in six days, including back-to-back fixtures on 26 and 28 December is the reality facing most Premier League teams over Christmas and New Year. For some of those Covid-hit squads, it is a situation complicated further by the additional obstacle of the Carabao Cup and the headaches that could be caused through further involvement in the competition.

Just four Premier League matches were left standing at the weekend as postponements continued to rip through the schedule, forcing discussions on whether to move a round of fixtures and alleviate some of the strain. The decision to press ahead lies in the reality that there is little room available in the calendar to uproot a full gameweek and plonk it down elsewhere. The 10 fixtures already needing to be rescheduled due to Covid-19 issues have to be accounted for.

As it stands, the Carabao Cup semi-finals will take place over two legs, across 4-5 and 11-12 January. Similarly to the decision to axe replays from the third and fourth rounds of the FA Cup to help address the fixture congestion, there have been discussions on playing this season’s semi-finals over one match, as was the case last year. “Do it away,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said on Sunday. “Just play it once. Wherever you want to play it, I don’t care.”

It is in this realm in which the Carabao Cup lies, even at the best of times. For the seven Premier League teams remaining in the competition it does not provide salvation, at least not yet. Instead it is a nuisance, a logistical hurdle to overcome, barely even registering on pre-season lists of priorities - and that’s before you even take the developing circumstances of this season into consideration.

It sets up what could be a very strange set of fixtures this week. Chelsea and Liverpool have yet to have matches postponed by Covid-19, despite Thomas Tuchel’s efforts, but it has still disrupted their plans. Chelsea’s deep squad has been riddled by absences. Tuchel named six substitutes on their bench for the 0-0 draw at Wolves, including two goalkeepers, and Mateo Kovacic was rushed back from a long-term hamstring injury in order to play.

“We suffer very much at the moment,” Tuchel admitted as he prepared to go into his side’s match against Brentford without nine first-team players. The Chelsea manager added that he will have to “start from scratch” with his enforced selection.

Liverpool’s squad has also been stretched, with assistant manager Pep Lijnders hinting at wholesale changes for the visit of Leicester. Liverpool were without their entire first-choice midfield, as well as Virgil van Dijk, in the 2-2 draw against Tottenham. James Milner and Naby Kieta started a match for the first time since October and had to play 90 minutes after returning from injury. Both are unlikely to be asked to go again, leaving Klopp to potentially delve into his Under-23s.

Tuchel and Klopp have been two of the most vocal managers in the league in highlighting the dangers caused by the relentless schedule, but there is no respite on the horizon. Their teams will face each other in a pivotal Premier League clash to close their festive periods on 2 January and it is not unfeasible to suggest that if they advance in the Carabao Cup they could have to face each other again three days later in a semi-final, with a potential return leg on the other side of the third round of the FA Cup.

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel is dealing with a lengthy list of absentees (Getty Images)

Chelsea also have two Premier League matches to reschedule, given they will be jetting off to Abu Dhabi for two games at the Club World Cup finals in early February.

At the other end of the scale, while Chelsea and Liverpool were told to plug their gaps and carry on this past weekend, both Brentford and Leicester have seen their last two matches postponed due to Covid-19 issues. Brentford will have gone 12 days since their last match, Leicester 10, following Covid-19 outbreaks in their respective squads last week. There are further issues to contend with as training grounds reopen and players rush to get back up to speed.

Tottenham have already returned to action, and Antonio Conte’s side showed signs that they may have benefited from their two-week break as they impressively held Liverpool. Conte would love to win a trophy to kick-start his Spurs reign, especially after they were effectively booted out of European competition by Uefa this week. But with three Premier League fixtures to reschedule already, any further progress could significantly add to that mounting fixture pile-up.

Their opponents West Ham have enjoyed a brilliant season under David Moyes but the challenge of advancing to the latter stages of the Carabao Cup while competing in Europe and sustaining a push for the Premier League’s top four - all on a slender squad - has caught up with them in recent weeks. Despite already beating Manchester United and Manchester City to reach this stage - it is not unreasonable to question whether further progress is in their best interest.

Of the Premier League sides already out of the competition, it is unlikely that any will be watching this week’s quarter-finals in envy, and that tells its own story. As they batten down the hatches in preparation for the festive period, many of the clubs who remain in the Carabao Cup face one more challenge before the real test begins, in a tournament where the winners could turn out to be losers, and the losers into winners, in the long run.