Coventry City meet Aston Villa in the third round of the 2026-27 Carabao Cup.
Victory would see Coventry reach the fourth round for the first time since the 2007-08 season, whilst Villa look to move past this stage for the second time in three seasons.
Team News
Taiwo Awoniyi is suspended for Coventry after he was red carded for violent conduct in their 5-0 Premier League loss to Brighton.
Frank Onyeka is ruled out after he suffered a hand injury during their defeat to the Seagulls.
Josh Eccles (undisclosed), Haji Wright (quad), Kaine Kesler-Hayden (hamstring) and Luke Woolfenden (knee) remain sidelined.
Villa will welcome Joao Gomes back into contention after he completed his domestic three-match suspension in their 2-1 Premier League loss to Nottingham Forest.
Pau Torres and Ian Maatsen however suffered hamstring and ankle injuries respectively in that match, which have ruled both players out of contention.
Matty Cash (muscle) and Brian Madjo (ankle) could feature but Leon Goretzka (knee) and Amadou Onana (ACL) remain sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Coventry host Villa at CBS Arena on Wednesday 16 September at 8pm BST, live on Sky Sports+ in the UK.
Stat Attack
- This is Coventry’s first League Cup meeting against Villa.
- Villa are making their first League Cup visit to Coventry, but have won one of two previous visits across all cup competitions (W1, L1) – as they lost 2-1 in third round of 1945-46 FA Cup but won 2-0 in second round of 1991-92 Full Members’ Cup.
- This is Coventry’s first cup meeting against Villa in the 21st century.
- Coventry’s only win this season came in the second round of this competition when they won 4-2 at Plymouth.
- Villa have lost each of their last five League Cup meetings against top-flight opposition (L5), although they did lose at this stage on penalties to Chelsea and Brentford in 2022 & 25 after 1-1 draws.
Prediction
Having suffered a difficult defeat to Brighton, Coventry now need to just reset because this competition offers a chance at a cup run and hopefully find some momentum to take into coming games, but their defensive play absolutely must be tighter whilst their attack needs to be more clinical.
Villa meanwhile have their own issues in the top flight but despite a late loss to Forest and two big defensive losses in Torres and Maatsen, I expect Unai Emery to go strong here because this tie is very winnable if they turn up with the right attitude because they do have the quality.
Neither team though look like they have much confidence defensively but Villa realistically should have enough firepower to pull through this tie.
Prediction: Coventry 0-2 Aston Villa
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