Liverpool will host Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, handing Andoni Iraola the reunion he admitted he did not want, while Fleetwood Town's reward for humbling Arsenal is another home tie against Premier League opposition and holders Manchester City face League One Bradford City.
The draw was made on Wednesday night after a dramatic fourth round in which Liverpool, City and Fleetwood all needed penalty shootouts to survive. The quarter-finals will be played in the week commencing December 14, as confirmed by Sky Sports.
The draw in full
Fleetwood Town vs Everton or Newcastle United; Manchester City vs Bradford City; Crystal Palace vs Sunderland; Liverpool vs Bournemouth. One place is still to be settled, with Everton hosting Newcastle United on Thursday night in the last fourth-round tie, and the winners travelling to Highbury to face the lowest-ranked side left in the competition.
Fleetwood, 18th in League Two, produced arguably the biggest upset in the competition's modern history on Tuesday, beating Premier League champions Arsenal on penalties after a 1-1 draw, and they will believe another giant-killing is possible on their own ground. Holders City, who edged Brighton on penalties after a 2-2 draw at the Etihad, host a Bradford side who beat Peterborough United 2-0 and reached the final of this competition in 2013. Crystal Palace, who won 1-0 at Fulham through Eddie Nketiah, host Sunderland, who beat Brentford 3-2 in a five-goal thriller at the Stadium of Light, in the only all-Premier League tie.
The reunion Iraola did not want
The tie of the round, though, is at Anfield. Liverpool beat Chelsea 6-5 on penalties after Cody Gakpo's spot-kick cancelled out Morgan Rogers' opener, and that win set up a meeting with the club Iraola left to take the Reds job. Bournemouth arrived in the last eight in style, beating Aston Villa 3-0 at the Vitality Stadium, and they will not travel as tourists.
Reacting to the draw, Iraola admitted, via SportBible: "I was talking before the draw and I told him the only team I didn't want was Bournemouth!" He later added that it would be special to face his former club in such a big match — but special and comfortable are very different things, and nobody knows Liverpool's new patterns, or their weaknesses, like the men Iraola coached on the south coast.
So what does it mean?
This draw keeps every storyline alive. A semi-final line-up containing Fleetwood or Bradford is now genuinely possible, which is exactly what this competition is for, and the EFL will quietly love a December week in which the holders host a League One side and a League Two club welcomes Premier League visitors. For Liverpool, the path to a first trophy under Iraola runs through his past; for City, the draw is as kind as it could have been, though Bradford will need no reminding of what Fleetwood did to Arsenal to believe an upset can happen.
Everton and Newcastle, meanwhile, now know exactly what awaits them on Thursday — and a trip to Fleetwood in December, with a semi-final place at stake, is a prize and a trap in equal measure.
Beyond the Final Whistle: this is the Carabao Cup at its best — no closed shop, no procession, just a draw that gives a League Two fairytale another chapter and forces Iraola to beat the club that made him to win his first Liverpool trophy. Our verdict? Bournemouth are the worst possible quarter-final opponents for Liverpool, precisely because they fear nothing at Anfield. Who are you backing to lift the cup at Wembley in March — and can Fleetwood do it again? Let us know in the comments.
