Carabao Cup quarter-final draw in full: Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and more learn next opponents

A thoroughly intriguing tie.

A short trip across the river for Crystal Palace.

Ange Postecoglou vs Ruben Amorim?

A first all Premier League last eight in 15 years - here we go...

Not long now until the draw is made. In a pretty gloomy season for Southampton so far, Russell Martin would surely love a winnable tie - be that against a smaller side or one of the bigger teams with a particularly devilish December in terms of fixture congestion.

Chelsea’s defeat does mean that we have avoided a nightmare scenario that would have seen Enzo Maresca’s side scheduled for a Conference League and Carabao Cup tie in the same midweek.

There is the potential for some properly tasty ties tonight. A North London derby, perhaps? Or how about Liverpool vs Manchester United, who may well be under new management by the time the last eight begins...

Ruud van Nistelrooy always promised goals for Manchester United. There were 36 in his first season as a player, 44 in his second. There were seven in his first game as their interim manager, five of them for United. The third-lowest scorers in the Premier League, United discovered a prolific streak under him. If it is to prove his lone evening in charge of United, what a night for him.

A much-needed win for Tottenham against a much-changed Manchester City means that Ange Postecoglou’s side complete our set of quarter-finalists. Here are our last eight:

1. Brentford

2. Southampton

3. Crystal Palace

4. Liverpool

5. Manchester United

6. Newcastle United

7. Arsenal

8. Tottenham Hotspur

Arne Slot didn’t do a whole lot of switching around his Liverpool lineup in the opening weeks of the season, to the extent that he was questioned about rotation and managing minutes several times and had to explain why he hadn’t needed to, much at least, at Feyenoord.

Fast forward a couple of months into his reign and there has certainly been more switching about in midweek action, Champions League and Carabao Cup matches offering an opportunity to fringe first-teamers and with one or two of those - Curtis Jones most notably - who had been onlookers at the start of the season being far more regularly in the initial XI for matches now.

But in an entertaining, though otherwise probably unremarkable, fourth round League Cup match at Brighton and Hove Albion, Slot perhaps gave an indication - and more importantly was shown the reasons - that there might now be the most significant early switch-up in his team over the coming weeks.

Ethan Nwaneri grabbed the spotlight with a stunning strike as Arsenal eased into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup with a 3-0 win over Preston.

The 17-year-old Nwaneri, who scored his first senior goals with a brace when the Gunners romped to a 5-1 win over Bolton in the previous round, was at the heart of things again and bent in a fine shot to double Arsenal’s lead after Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring with his first goal of the season.

Kai Havertz came off the bench to add a third as Arsenal extended Preston’s unwanted record of having played more games in this competition than any other club, now 185, without making the last eight.

Arsenal have long known they have a potential gem on their hands – it is two years since Nwaneri became the Premier League’s youngest player at the age of 15 and 181 days – and the attacking midfielder put in a performance which suggests he is ready to make a bigger contribution.