Our Carabao Cup campaign begins on Wednesday evening when we find out our third round opponents – although this year the draw will be slightly different.

Due to the expansion of the Champions League and Europa League, two additional European match weeks have been added to the calendar, coinciding with the dates of the third round of the Carabao Cup, which are staggered over the weeks from 16 to 23 September.

To avoid scheduling conflicts between teams participating in these competitions, two pot groups will be used for the draw: Pot one will contain the six teams that have reached the Champions League and Europa League – including us – and Pot two will contain the other 26 clubs. This means that Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Manchester United, Tottenham and us will not be able to play each other in the third round.

These six teams will be drawn in advance to determine whether they will play home or away in the third round and will be placed separately into the first six matches. Then when the main draw begins, the teams from Pot 2 will be paired with a European team to play the first six matches and then the remaining 10 will be drawn from the remaining teams in Pot 2.

This will only be the case for the third round – the rest of the competition will follow the traditional bye format.

The draw will take place on Wednesday evening following the match between Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United at the City Ground and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.