Northampton have gone for just the five changes including a debut in goal for Ross Fitzsimons.

Southampton switch out eight payers from the weekend win over Wrexham which includes a start for Ryan Manning who started that stunning late comeback with the equaliser.

Ross Stewart was due to start for the Saints but has been taken ill in the warm up so Ben Brereton Diaz gets the nod.

The Rovers upright is still wobbling after the ball is played to Delano Burgzorg on the right of the area, he spins John McGrath and lashes a rocket from an angle which cannons off the inside of Ian Lawlor's left-hand post and flies away.

Lawlor does well to deal with a fizzing effort from Morgan Whittaker soon after.

Boro have woken up...

Our 19:45 BST games are now up and running.

Gotta love a staggered start, and Bromley v Ipswich will join the fun at 20:00.

Dafydd Pritchard
BBC Sport Wales at Cardiff City Stadium

Chapeau to the Swindon fans, around 1,700 of whom have made the trip to Cardiff for this first-round tie.

A crowd of around 7,000 is expected in the Welsh capital, and it's the travelling supporters making all the noise before kick-off.

Image source, Getty Images

There will be no extra time tonight.

Drawn games go straight to penalties.

It's still north of 30 degrees at many grounds... probably a good thing there's no additional 30 minutes.

A couple of neat early touches in midfield for new Boro signing from Troyes Abdoulaye Kante.

Rovers's Joe Sbarra has found a bit of space on the left of the box on two occasions but hasn't been able to capitalise while Delano Burgzorg has dragged an effort wide of target at the other end, not realising the offside flag was up.

Brent Pilnick
BBC Sport at Home Park

Queens Park Rangers' priorities appear to be firmly on the league having seen their line-up tonight - 11 changes and none of the side that drew 1-1 with Preston are in the squad.

On the bench are 16-year-old forwards Kalen Brunson and Ashley Trujillo.

Should either of them make an appearance they would be the second-youngest player ever to play a first team game for the R's - only 15-year-old Frank Sibley was younger when he made his debut in 1963.

Argyle make six changes from the side that were well beaten at Bolton on Saturday - Owen Oseni makes his debut while there are first starts for fellow summer signings Jamie Paterson and Ayman Benarous.

Image source, Rex Features

Away from our featured matches tonight, five other previous winners of this competition are in action.

Norwich City have won the EFL Cup twice, once when the final was still over two legs in 1962 and then a 1-0 victory over Sunderland in 1985. Their road to Wembley starts at Watford.

Swindon Town's day in the limelight came as a Third Division side in 1969 when they beat Arsenal 3-1 and they visit Cardiff City this evening.

West Bromwich Albion face Derby County tonight having lifted the trophy back in 1966.

Oxford United beat QPR in the 1986 final and start their campaign at home to Colchester United while 2013 winners Swansea City are already under way at home to Crawley Town (19:00 BST).

Low-key start at a balmy Riverside but Luke Ayling comes in for some stick from the visiting Rovers fans when he takes his first touch... that's what eight years at Leeds will do for you.

Image source, Getty Images

It's never too early in the season for a game to be called off and the tie at Tranmere has just been postponed because of a power cut.

Staff at Prenton Park were unable to operate the floodlights, tills and some of the turnstiles.

Not much hope of getting that one on - a new date shall be found...

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales at the Swansea.com Stadium

It looked like it might be a long evening in the south Wales sunshine for Crawley Town after Swansea took the lead inside four minutes through Ronald.

The Brazilian winger steered in from Josh Tymon's cross and Swansea continued to impose themselves in the opening stages.

To their credit, however, League Two Crawley have come back into this contest and have made their Championship hosts work much harder as this game has gone on.

Image source, PA Media

Nothing says relegation from the Premier League like a trip to Bromley before the top flight has even started.

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna was fighting off approaches from Chelsea and Manchester United 12 months ago but the hard graft starts now for the Tractor Boys as they focus on returning to the big time.

Bromley won't make tonight's game easy - they have started the League Two season well and gave Newcastle a scare in last season's FA Cup. Andy Woodman's boys will be ready.

Rob Edwards has kept more than half of the lineup which began his Riverside reign with a win over Swansea, making five changes, including Tom Glover starting in goal in place of Sol Brynn.

Grant McCann has changed his entire Rovers XI, handing a start to evergreen Billy Sharp, now 39-years-old, in attack, though seven of the XI which beat Mansfield on Saturday are on the Rovers bench.

Our first raft of ties are under way with Barrow v Preston, Middlesbrough v Doncaster, Newport v Millwall and Stockport v Crewe all off and running.

Swansea lead Crawley 1-0 in the sole 19:00 BST kick-off thanks to a goal from Brazilian star Ronald.

Image source, Getty Images

Tinseltown's own scriptwriters will have enjoyed the helter-skelter affair that was Wrexham's return to the Championship on Saturday - a gut-wrenching defeat snatched from the jaws of victory at Southampton.

A good cup run could be right up the Dragons' street, and they will fancy it against Hull tonight.

The Tigers only just stayed up last season and started the campaign with a 0-0 draw against Coventry. Can new manager Sergej Jakirovic find a win on the road?

Image source, Rex Features

Another clash of a Championship mainstay with a newly-promoted League One club sees Bradford City head to Ewood Park to take on 2002 winners Blackburn.

This will be the second meeting between the sides in the EFL Cup in just three years, with Rovers coming out on top 2-1 in a second round tie at Valley Parade in 2022.

Boss Valerien Ismael is battling to hold on to midfielders Sondre Tronstad, Lewis Travis, and Ryan Hedges along with defender Dominic Hyam, who will be out of contract at the end of the season and have been linked with moves away.

All four started as Blackburn lost their opening Championship match 1-0 at West Brom on Saturday while the Bantams made it four points from their opening two games after promotion, following up the 2-1 win over Wycombe with a goalless draw at Northampton.

If you're hoping for an early finish, be warned, three of City's past four EFL Cup ties have gone to penalties.

Image source, Rex Features

The EFL Cup remains Stoke City's one and only major trophy - the 1972 victory over Chelsea is still remembered each year on its 4 March anniversary.

In fact with a runners-up accolade, a semi-final lost on penalties to Liverpool (in 2016) and five runs to the quarter-finals it's a competition the Potters have enjoyed down the years even if it no longer remains a priority.

The last meeting between these two came in this competition -12 years ago Stoke ran out 3-1 winners with a Kenwyne Jones hat-trick.

There is a more recent link between the clubs as Stoke loanee Nathan Lowe hammered 15 League Two goals for Walsall last season as they steamed towards a seemingly inevitable promotion - there are those Saddlers fans who will tell you, like the Ravens leaving the Tower of London, Lowe's return to the potteries in January coincided with their rather spectacular collapse.

A famous run to the semi-finals in the 1983-84 season where they knocked out Arsenal on the way to losing to Liverpool in the last four is the best Walsall have managed in this competition - victory tonight might lay to rest the ghost of Nathan Lowe at the very least.

Image source, Rex Features

Meetings between these two sides might not be quite as rare as hens' teeth but a fifth fixture in 60 years means they're not exactly familiar foes.

Two of the past four games have come in this competition with Southampton winning both without conceding (just for the record the other two have come in the FA Cup - both again won by Southampton).

A quarter-final appearance last season was one of very, very few highlights for the Saints in a miserable campaign where they were relegated from the Premier League and a return to the top flight is their priority.

Two-time quarter-finalists Northampton will surely prize League One survival over a deep run in the EFL Cup although getting past the first round for the first time in four seasons probably wouldn't go amiss...

Image source, Rex Features

QPR make the long trip to Devon this evening hoping to heap more woe on struggling Plymouth and new boss Tom Cleverley.

The Rs -who won this competition in 1967 - are unbeaten in their past four league visits to Home Park and won 1-0 there in the Championship in January, however the Pilgrims did edge a 3-2 home win in this competition in September 2020 and also won the only other EFL Cup meeting between the sides in 1973.

Now led by Julien Stephan, Rangers were pegged back to draw their opening Championship game 1-1 at home to Preston on Saturday while Argyle's malaise has continued after relegation to League One, despite the arrival of Cleverley.

The former Watford boss has overseen a 3-1 defeat at Barnsley before a 2-0 loss at Bolton on Saturday in which they didn't register a shot on target - it's their worst start in nine years and Cleverley has called on everyone at the club to take a look at their own role in proceedings.