AFTER A DELAY of over 100 minutes – incidentally, enough time to have played at least normal time in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals – the eight remaining clubs discovered their opponents by way of a pre-recorded video uploaded by the competition’s Twitter account.
The remaining ‘big four’ managed to avoid each other in an inadvertent, behind-closed-doors draw, which will see Chelsea host Bournemouth, a London derby between Arsenal and West Ham, Claude Puel’s Leicester take on Manchester City, and Championship club Bristol entertain Manchester United.
Here’s the draw in full:
The #CarabaoCup Round Five Draw has finally taken place. Take a look at the pre-recorded video and see who your team got. pic.twitter.com/g6Tl9IxseK
— Carabao Cup (@Carabao_Cup) October 26, 2017
Originally scheduled for 4pm UK time, the draw was delayed due to a technical glitch at Twitter HQ, meaning it couldn’t be live-streamed as intended.
The draw was therefore pre-recorded in full, and uploaded to Twitter only on its completion.
This latest shambles follows the botched first-round draw, which was streamed live to Facebook with no sound, and crashed as soon as the first team was drawn. Charlton Athletic were later drawn twice – both away to Exeter and at home to Cheltenham.
The second-round draw was less farcical but more confusing, as the introductions of geographical divisions and seedings left a host of clubs bewildered by proceedings, which on this occasion took place in the Sky Sports studio.
#CPFC 🦅 will face Ipswich Town AT HOME in the second round of the #CarabaoCup! 🏆
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) August 10, 2017
At home, @JohnSalako... 😅 pic.twitter.com/pUl4QiW9JH
#itfc have been handed an away tie (I think) against Crystal Palace in the second round of the Carabao Cup 🏆⚽️ pic.twitter.com/8eH9gAqvbd
— Ipswich Town FC (@Official_ITFC) August 10, 2017
The draw for round three was held in Beijing at 4am UK time, which naturally presented its own issues.
Carabao is Thailand’s second-most popular energy drink, and was announced as the title sponsor to the English league cup back in November.
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Great to see