Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes, William Osula and Joelinton of Newcastle United celebrate with the trophy after winning the Carabao Cup Final
Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes, William Osula and Joelinton of Newcastle United celebrate with the trophy after winning the Carabao Cup Final
Newcastle United's defence of the Carabao Cup could be made a little easier next season as they look to benefit from a recently introduced rule.
The Magpies could not have had a tougher run to Wembley this season after beating top three Nottingham Forest on penalties in the second round then seeing off Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool to finally end their trophy drought. True, Newcastle did land a tie with lower league AFC Wimbledon early on this term, but next season could be a lot easier.
For a start Newcastle's win on Sunday against the Reds mean they will not enter the competition until the third-round stage as they are definitely in Europe next term with a Europa Conference League place the minimum they can expect to achieve.
That was the case in 2023/24 when Newcastle plucked out Manchester City in the third round and won 1-0 to set up a run to the last eight of the competition where they were unfortunately knocked out one penalties at Stamford Bridge to Chelsea.
However, there are also other perks for Eddie Howe and his coaching staff to look out for next season if they qualify for the Europa League for Champions League. Being in Europe's top two competitions means that Newcastle will not only enter in round three but they will avoid some of the big guns in the draw.
For next season Newcastle may well be seeded in the draw for round three and will not play any of the European qualifiers. The draw gets split into two stages.
The first part of the third round draw involves teams in the Champions League and Europa League - they were placed in bowl one, and the other 26 sides were put into bowl two. Teams in the Champions League or Europa League can't be drawn against each other meaning Newcastle could have a less daunting passage to round four.
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