Like Ziggy and Chantelle’s Big Brother relationship, cup matches were once about romance until the chance to make big money came along. It might seem quaint now but at one time cups were not just the domain of the big four and even teams from outside the top flight stood a chance (no really). But can this week’s league cup (that’s its real name and we won’t accept otherwise) provide a few surprises and renew our flagging faith?
The answer is probably not. But if it does it will take an almighty performance from a Championship club and, well, a lazy, disinterested performance from the Premiership opponents. And here are the places it could happen:
Manchester City v Norwich
Aston Villa v Leicester
Hull v Chelsea
Manchester United v Coventry
Sheff Wed v Everton
West Ham v Plymouth
Using the CaughtOffside calculator and the following equation we can see which of these are most likely to result in an upset:
Premiership crisis club + Handy Championship club – rested Premiership stars x home advantage for Championship club = Upset possible
Hull it is then, bad news for Roman and his best childhood mate new manager.