English football returns with round of 16 EFL Cup matches after the World Cup break. Here is a round-up of all the actions, results and matches to expect.
Newcastle 1-0 Bournemouth
The Magpies continued from where they stopped before the World Cup break, securing another win, and a clean sheet.
The first half ended in a barren draw between both teams. A 67th minute Adam Smith’s own goal was enough to take the Magpies to EFL Cup quarter-finals.
Southampton 2-1 Lincoln City
After Bazunu put the visitors ahead just 2 minutes into the game, Che Adams netted the equaliser in the 25th minute. The first half ended in a 1-1 draw.
Chei Adams scored again in the 74th minute to bag his brace and helped the saints secured a vital win to progress to the quarterfinals, ending the League One side’s run.
Leicester 3-0 MK Dons
Leicester cruised past MK Dons in their first game since the World Cup break.
Youri Tielemans, Ayoze Perez and Jamie Vardy got their goals in 3-0 victory.
Brendan Rodgers’ side are into the next round of the EFL Cup after the win.
James Maddison was not in the squad despite not appearing for England in Qatar.
Two goals came in the first half of the encounter with Tielemans and Perez scoring in the 18th and 29th minute respectively. Vardy compounded the woes of MK Dons in the 50th minute to send the Foxes to the next round of the competition.
Wolves 2-0 Gillingham
After a dragging first half which ended 0-0, former Sevilla boss Julen Lopetegui resumed his managerial role at Wolves on a good note beating Gillingham 2-0.
But his team waited until the 77th minute to break through the brink wall defence of Gillingham. Jimenez opened the scoring for the team before Ait Nouri doubled the lead in stoppage time.
Next fixtures
There are four matches remaining to complete the quarterfinal tie. Blackburn Rovers will host Nottingham Forest. Charlton takes on Premier League side Brighton. Manchester United will host Burnley at Old Trafford, while Liverpool will travel to Etihad to take on Manchester City.
Manchester City Vs Liverpool game is the only game that will take place on 22nd December while the rest of the fixtures will hold today.
They are all late kickoffs. Except for Manchester United Vs Burnley game, the rest of the matches will kick off by 20:00 GMT.
Manchester City Vs Liverpool is the most anticipated round of 16 fixture. Both sides have met twice since the beginning of the 2022 season.
Jurgen Klopp had a better of Pep Guardiola in both meetings in Community Shield and the Premier League. Guardiola will hope to avenge the two losses by eliminating the Reds from the competition.
