Wednesday night's Carling Cup action sees nine Premier League sides in action.
Catch Newcastle versus Tottenham, live on Sky Sports 2
Wednesday night's Carling Cup action sees nine Premier League sides in action, with Tottenham's trip to Newcastle arguably the pick of the third round ties.
Both clubs, for different reasons, have not enjoyed the most harmonious starts to the new campaign. Therefore, a cup clash will come as welcome relief or poisoned chalice, depending on the result of a game which can be seen live on
Sky Sports 2.
Juande Ramos' Spurs have yet to taste a league victory to date, but their problems pale into insignificance when compared to Newcastle's: No manager and an owner who wants out.
Everton are another club who were widely tipped in pre-season but have struggled to find anything like top form and a short but tough trip to
Blackburn is unlikely to be what David Moyes would have wished for when the third round draw was made.
Manchester City were exhilarating at the weekend in putting six past Portsmouth but it will be back down to earth for Mark Hughes and his band of Brazilians if they can't see off League One
Brighton on their travels, in what is a rescheduled round two tie.
While Hughes was beaming at the weekend, Harry Redknapp could barely believe the ineptitude of his
Portsmouth side's defending at Eastlands. The Fratton Park faithful will be demanding a drastic improvement for the visit of
Chelsea, who ominously, have already said they will be taking the competition seriously this season.
Wigan travel to
Ipswich in good spirits following their point at Spurs on Sunday and Steve Bruce has outlined his desire to match Paul Jewell's achievement of guiding the Latics to the final two years ago, so expect a strong side to be named at Portman Road.
Aston Villa have enjoyed a fine start to the season and while Martin O'Neill will likely make changes for the visit of
QPR, who are themselves riding high in the Championship, the Ulsterman will be well aware the Carling Cup represents a decent chance of silverware for his charges this term.
