Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Getty Images

Wales will be watching tonight’s Carabao Cup fourth-round draw with great interest given that the nation’s clubs have combined to make a little piece of history in the competition.

Cardiff City toppled Premier League Burnley on Tuesday while Wrexham saw off Reading, meaning they join Swansea City in tonight’s draw after their memorable victory over Nottingham Forest last week.

When was the last time Wales had three clubs in the last 16 of the EFL Cup, we hear you ask.

The answer? It has never happened before.

Swansea won the competition in 2012-13, 12 months after Cardiff had been beaten by Liverpool on penalties in the final.

Wrexham’s best efforts in what was originally known as the League Cup are two trips to the quarter-finals, the most recent of which came in 1977-78.

But collectively, 2025-26 is now a landmark season for Welsh clubs.

In the 65 previous editions of the competition, Wales has only once had more than one team in the last 16, when Swansea and Wrexham made it that far in 1976-77.

Burnley

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Scott Parker changed his entire starting XI for Burnley's League Cup loss to League One Cardiff at Turf Moor last night - and it is safe to say, he wasn't too pleased with what he saw from the players who came in.

It's never easy for a team that has likely never played together in a competitive match to show the cohesion that a manager might want but Parker's assessment of Burnley's efforts both in and out of possession was fairly scathing.

"In terms of where we want to be, in terms of what we were, and what we are, we just felt a little bit short of our standards tonight," he said.

"Generally, we were poor in the first half in every phase of our game really, in terms of pressing, in terms of our intensity.

"We opened up the pitch really easily for the opposition. On the flipside, with the ball as well, we were quite slow at times.

"It was just a general mix really - we just looked a little yard off it in every phase."

On to Manchester City on Saturday then...

Craig Nelson
BBC Sport reporter

What do we think about James' idea for a different level of yellow card offence?

Could it be workable?

As I understand him, if you get two yellow cards for reckless tackles, for example, you would be sent off as normal.

But if you followed a yellow card for a bad tackle with a lesser offence, for example, an excessive goal celebration, you would be given a final warning.

Thumbs up if you think that is a good idea, thumbs down if you don't.

Brighton & Hove Albion

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Diego Gomez scored four goals – including an astonishing first-half hat-trick – as Brighton reached the fourth round of the Carabao Cup with a thumping victory over League One Barnsley.

But unless you have been paying close attention to Fabian Hurzeler's side, you could be forgiven for not knowing a great deal about the Paraguayan midfielder.

The 22-year-old joined Brighton in January, in a deal reported to be worth around £14m, from MLS side Inter Miami and made 19 appearances in the second half of last season.

Only four of those were starts while his only goal of the campaign came on the last day of the Premier League season at Tottenham.

Gomez has been mainly used from the bench again this year, his only league start coming in Brighton's only Premier League win so far, against Manchester City, but it's in the League Cup that he's really shone.

The former Libertad man has played from the right in both games and was on target in the Seagulls' 6-0 win over Oxford before his stunning display at Oakwell last night.

"He is a big talent," Hurzeler added. "His goals helped us to get into our structure, especially in the second half when we played really good football and created a lot of chances."

The goals weren't just tap-ins either - with one an absolute screamer into the top corner from 30 yards - so as Brighton try to improve on a mixed start to the season, Gomez might be one to watch in the coming weeks...

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Brighton are enjoying themselves in the Carabao Cup this season, scoring 12 goals in two matches.

A four-goal haul for Diego Gomez in the 6-0 victory at Barnsley last night made Brighton the first team in League Cup history to win successive games by a six-goal margin.

They also defeated Oxford United 6-0 away from home in August.

Gomez has struggled to hold down a first-team place in the Premier League since joining the Seagulls from Inter Miami for an initial £11m in January.

The 22-year-old Paraguay international has only made five Premier League starts since, although he has now scored five goals in this season’s EFL Cup – form that can only help force him into Fabian Hurzeler’s thinking for the biggest matches.

Craig Nelson
BBC Sport reporter

OK, let's just recap what we have covered so far this morning before looking at the other talking points from Tuesday night's games:

• Ekitike's moment of madness
• 'Emotion got the better of me'
• It was stupid, not smart in every sense - Slot
• Is Isak ready to start against Palace?
• Should players be shown a yellow card for goal celebrations?
• 'It's not a good sign' - Slot on Leoni injury
• Which teams are into the Carabao Cup fourth round?
• Carabao Cup results round-up
• Wednesday's Carabao Cup fixtures
• Get Involved - the best of your reaction

Hugo Ekitike's needless red card was a headache that Arne Slot could have done without, on a night that saw him lose another new signing in the shape of debutant defender Giovanni Leoni.

The 18-year-old Italy youth international, who was signed from Parma for £26m in the summer, was taken off on a stretcher in the closing stages with a knee injury.

Leoni fell heavily over the touchline as he tried to shepherd a ball out of play under pressure from a Southampton player.

He immediately signaled to the bench and had to be given gas and air as he was carried off, after being attended to for a number of minutes by the Liverpool medical staff.

Slot said after the game: "If a player goes off like that it's not a good sign. We have to wait and see what it is but usually it's not positive."

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Alexander Isak played it coolly when asked if he was ready to step up and start his first Premier League game for Liverpool.

Arne Slot may have no choice but to throw in his £125m transfer deadline day signing against Crystal Palace this weekend, but the Swedish striker is says he is ready to "make a difference".

"It is difficult to say," he told ITV Sport on his readiness to start a top-flight match.

"It is a mixture of fitness-wise and football-wise. I feel good and feel I am in a shape to make a difference."

And he added: "I feel good. With every game I play it is very helpful and gets me in better shape."

Image source, Getty Images

Gary Rose
BBC Sport reporter

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Alexander Isak has had his playing time carefully managed since joining Liverpool.

His two starts have been in cup competitions - playing 58 minutes against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on 17 September and then this first-half appearance against Southampton.

In the Premier League he has made just one appearance - coming off the bench in the 67th minute in the 2-1 win against Everton at the weekend.

Isak's half-time departure against the Saints was likely because Slot had one eye on the weekend as well, so may have already been planning to give him more game time at Crystal Palace.

As well as scoring against Southampton, he also had a big chance early on but fired straight at goalkeeper Alex McCarthy.

Chris Sutton
Former Premier League striker on BBC Radio 5 Live

For [Hugo] Ekitike to get a second yellow card for that [taking his shirt off] is just sheer stupidity.

He's been such an important player for Liverpool so far this season - what a start to his Liverpool career, important goal [against Southampton] - but that's not great for Arne Slot if he's sitting out the game at the weekend.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Liverpool manager Arne Slot did not mince his words and will have left his striker in no doubt where he stands on the issue.

The Dutchman described Hugo Ekitike's actions as "stupid" and questioned why he was not turning attention towards provider Federico Chiesa, who unselfishly passed to the France striker when he could have scored himself.

"It is not [stupid] because it was his second [yellow] - it's stupid even if you haven't had a yellow card yet," he said.

"Maybe I'm a bit old-fashioned but I did score a few goals - not at his level but I did - and if I went past three players and put it in the top corner then maybe you can say 'this is all about me'.

"But if I scored a goal like he did tonight, I would turn to Chiesa and say 'it's about you Federico - great assist, great run and I didn't have to do a lot'. Maybe that's me being old-school.

"It was stupid, not smart in every sense. The good thing is that his team-mates helped him to get the win over the line, but the thing is he is now suspended for Saturday and that is far from ideal."

Slot added that he hoped his player would learn from the experience: "I'd be very surprised if he does it again. He probably forgot he got a yellow. He's young and he will learn from it. I'm sure he won't do it again."