All eyes will be on the Carabao Cup fourth-round draw tonight when the hotly tipped contenders, the dark horses and the perennial underdogs of English football discover their fate for the next phase of this year’s competition.
Two Premier League heavyweights fell at the earliest possible hurdle last week as Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest were eliminated at the hands of Brentford and Swansea respectively.
Manchester United’s EFL Cup journey was brought to a halt earlier still when they suffered a humiliating second-round defeat away to Grimsby Town last month.
Liverpool and Chelsea booked their place in the draw for the fourth round following respective wins against Southampton and Lincoln City, whilst Manchester City and Arsenal will look to join them when they take on Huddersfield and Port Vale this evening.
Reigning champions Newcastle, meanwhile, will hope to kick off their defence in style as they prepare to welcome League One outfit Bradford City to St James’ Park.
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The Magpies brought their painful 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy to an end by triumphing over Liverpool at Wembley in March, with the club’s previous win coming way back in 1955.
Here is everything you need to know about tonight’s Carabao Cup fourth round draw, including what time it starts, how to watch on TV and the all-important ball numbers.
When is the Carabao Cup draw?
The fourth-round draw will take place tonight (Wednesday 24 September 2025) following Arsenal’s third-round tie with Port Vale.
The draw is penciled in to start at 10:15pm BST, but may have to be pushed back should the Vale Park contest go to penalties.
Ball numbers
Carabao Cup fourth-round numbers
- Grimsby Town
- Brentford
- Crystal Palace
- Swansea City
- Brighton
- Cardiff
- Fulham
- Chelsea
- Wycombe Wanderers
- Wolves
- Wrexham
- Liverpool
- Huddersfield or Man City
- Tottenham or Doncaster
- Newcastle or Bradford City
- Port Vale or Arsenal
How to watch on TV
The fourth-round draw will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports News. Subscribers will be able to tune in on the Sky Go app.
Sky have confirmed that the draw will also be available to stream free of charge on the official Sky Sports YouTube channel.
Sky Sports presenter Simon Thomas is set to host the draw, alongside ex-Liverpool, Tottenham and England star Jamie Redknapp and former Sheffield United midfielder Michael Brown.
When will the fourth-round games be played?
All fourth-round fixtures are set to take place in the week commencing Monday 27 October.
Following this, the quarter-finals will commence the week commencing 15 December, with the semi-final first and second legs scheduled for the weeks commencing 12 January and 2 February 2026 respectively.
This year’s final will be staged at Wembley on Sunday March 22 2026.
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