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Crystal Palace’s Conference League success has created an unusual Carabao Cup problem, with four clubs, including Tranmere Rovers, facing a preliminary round before the competition proper begins, according to Football Lowdown.
Palace’s victory means they qualify for the Europa League. So, there will once again be nine Premier League clubs there. The high number of English clubs means the English Football League must adjust the early rounds to fit the qualifying numbers. Tranmere Rovers, York City, Rochdale, and Crawley Town will play early, before the first round, with the draw made at the same time as the opening-round draw
The complication arises because the first two rounds of the Carabao Cup are regional. Last season, when a pre-round was needed, the split between clubs was easy: Two clubs in the northern section and two in the southern section. Crawley is evidently close to South London and in the south section, but the remaining three clubs are much further north.
Tranmere is the most southern among the three clubs, so Tranmere could play Crawley. Still, Tranmere's proximity to the west coast means it's not very accessible to southern teams. As a result, the EFL could do an open draw to decide which of the clubs will play Crawley in the southern part of the tournament.
The problem is that the Carabao Cup needs the right number of teams (23) to continue into the third round to make up the final 32, so some clubs could now be forced to play an extra match earlier than planned. That could even mean northern teams travelling long distances to face southern clubs, something the EFL will want to stop.
It has not been confirmed yet who Tranmere Rovers will play in the Carabao Cup.
