Carabao Cup third round draw 'alphabet error' – Newcastle and Man City impacted as Brighton v Chelsea time and date locked in

Treble-winners Manchester City will travel to Newcastle in the third round of the Carabao Cup – but it could all have been very different.

The mouth watering clash was one of the pick of the ties as the sides that qualified for Europe this season – including Brighton – entered the competition for Wednesday’s draw.

Brighton were drawn to face Chelsea and their tie has been confirmed to take place at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday 27 September, kick-off 7.45pm.

But it was the controversy of the ball numbers that had many fans talking after the third round draw was made. Newcastle were incorrectly given ball number 20 for the draw as the numbers are issued for each team in alphabetical order – with the exception of ties still to be completed. But it turned out Championship outfit Norwich should have been number 20 instead of the 19 they were given. Drawn correctly, Newcastle would have gone to Fulham and Norwich would face the daunting prospect of hosting Pep Guardiola’s Man City.

An EFL statement to Express Sport read: “The League accepts that the list published was not in alphabetical order, however, under Cup rules, the draw does not require for numbers to be allocated on that basis as is demonstrated by those teams who progressed on Wednesday night. As a result, the EFL views the draw as completely valid with no impact to competition integrity.”