Hunch. On 30 October BBC Sport reported that Everton were left with only 18 senior players after a poor summer transfer window, a much thinner squad than the Manchester City and Manchester United sides that won this cup from the same point.
The cup winner market resolves on the EFL Carabao Cup page after the final on Sunday 21 March 2027: YES if Everton are the 2026-27 winners, and NO if Everton go out in any round or lose the final. If the final is moved, it resolves on the new date, up to 4 April 2027, with BBC Sport and The Guardian final reports as backups.
We looked for cases where a club from the top league in England reached the League Cup quarter-finals and was drawn against a side at least two leagues below it. We found ten such clubs from 1998-99 to 2025-26. Two of them won the cup that season: Manchester City in 2020 and Manchester United in 2023. The other eight went out, three in the quarter-final and five in the semi-final. (BBC Sport; BBC Sport)