Nicklas Bendtner looks to sting Arsenal; N'Golo Kante braced for Leicester return; Manchester United face Northampton

Five things to look out for in the EFL Cup this week: David Moyes desperately needs a win at Queens Park Rangers as Accrington Stanley hope to kick West Ham when they're down

Nicklas Bendtner is now playing his football in the Championship with Nottingham Forest (Getty)

Bendtner set for Arsenal reunion at City Ground

Few members of the Arsenal alumni stir mixed feelings quite like Nicklas Bendtner. The Danish striker, now at Championship outfit Nottingham Forest, is preparing to face his former employers when the Gunners travel to the City Ground on Tuesday night.

In a third-round draw laden with potential upsets, the script has been written for Bendtner to fire the winner against Arsene Wenger’s men in the East Midlands. “I’m really looking forward to a great match in a sold-out stadium, I’m sure there’s going to be a great atmosphere,” he said on Monday.

He added: “I will celebrate if I score tomorrow night but I won’t go crazy. I have a lot of love and respect for Arsenal as a club. I want to look to the future not the past. I know I haven’t yet fulfilled my potential but now is the time to move forward.” It may be a case of going back to the future for Bendtner this week.

Kante braced for mixed reception at Leicester

There is a mural in Leicester city centre which immortalises every one of their Premier League title-winning heroes of last season. Shortly after N’Golo Kante, the midfielder hustler who powered their march to the summit, left for Chelsea this summer, a group of supporters indelicately changed the ‘a’ in his name for another letter in the alphabet.

Amid a small contingent, there is a feeling that Kante broke the ‘Band of Brothers’ code at Leicester by giving into the temptations offered to him by Antonio Conte at Stamford Bridge. The Foxes have struggled to replace the Frenchman this term with Daniel Amartay deputising in the role at present.

Kante returns to his old stomping ground this Tuesday as Chelsea take on the champions in one of the standout ties of this third-round draw. Leicester, who have the Champions League to focus on, are expected to field a weakened team for the visit of Conte’s side. The guests, meanwhile, have a rare free hit at the EFL Cup if they wish to take it. It’s an odd reversal of fortunes but Kante remains at the centre of things.

Mourinho on the brink of yet another melodrama

Manchester United’s simmering early-season ills could become terminal if Jose Mourinho’s men are unable to defeat League One Northampton Town. A trio of defeats in eight days – against Manchester City, Feyenoord and Watford – have curtailed the steady progress by the Portuguese in the North West before the international break.

Now United’s season appears to be unravelling at a frightening pace. A trip to the Sixfields Stadium to face Rob Page’s side, mid-table in the third tier, could prove disastrous if Mourinho is unable to plot a route past the Cobblers on Wednesday night.

Louis van Gaal, his predecessor in the post, famously suffered a 4-0 humiliation to MK Dons to continue a miserable opening few weeks for the Dutchman two years ago. Mourinho, on the other hand, hasn’t lost three consecutive matches since his spell with Porto in 2002. Lose on the River Nene this week and the knives will be out again.

Moyes desperately seeks first win as Sunderland boss

The familiar sting of failure has returned for both David Moyes and Sunderland after the briefest of pre-season optimism this summer. Sam Allardyce, the darling of their last scrape with relegation is gone, leaving Moyes to navigate the rocky road ahead.

If Sunderland are to recover from their early-season slouch, Moyes will have to deal with Queens Park Rangers, an unwelcome blockade for any manager looking for a first victory in his new job. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, the QPR manager, is enduring tough times of his own but all the pre-match pressure has been heaped onto Moyes’ shoulders.

Defeat by Tottenham Hotspur this weekend leaves the Black Cats in severe need of a morale-enhancing win to settle any nerves within the camp. Joint-bottom of the Premier League, with fellow whipping boys Stoke City, Sunderland know their stock of nine lives has likely been exhausted. Loftus Road, under the lights, is seldom an easy place to go.

Hammers are anything but happy at their new home

Moving house is always a stressful affair but West Ham United probably didn’t expect their London Stadium move to bring quite as much strife as it has. Reports of brawls in the stands during the second-half collapse to Watford a fortnight ago have soured the tone somewhat in Stratford.

Fourth-tier Accrington Stanley will arrive in East London without a care in the world and with high hopes of punishing West Ham’s recently bloated home support a little further. The laughable submission to West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League at the weekend nudged Slaven Bilic’s men into the relegation zone.

The Croat will hope his side will take on the attitude of wounded animals and show their superiority this week against a club who are barely half a century old. With reports suggesting contract talks have stalled between Bilic and the Hammers’ board, however, Accrington will perhaps feel they’ve never had such an opportunity to get one over on top-flight opposition.