Away we go in our first match of the evening. The holders take on the Premier League high-flyers.

Aston Villa will be hoping to maintain their recent revival and make it five consecutive wins across all competitions when they face Bournemouth in the League Cup tonight.

After failing to win any of their first four games of the season, Unai Emery's side have massively transformed their fortunes by embarking on an eight-game unbeaten run.

The Villans, who beat Manchester City 2-1 on Saturday, are second in the Champions League league phase and ninth in the Premier League.

Their impressive turnaround comes after a summer of upheaval, which saw long-serving stalwarts Youri Tielemans, Ollie Watkins, Lucas Digne and Emi Martinez all leave Villa Park.

Villa have not reached the fifth round of the League Cup since the 2019/20 season, when they lost to Manchester City in the final.

Chelsea's Cole Palmer will not miss the Blues' Premier League meeting with Manchester United on Saturday, despite being sent off in his side's last Premier League match.

Palmer was shown two yellow cards in the second half of the Blues' defeat by rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. That dismissal meant that Palmer was handed a one-match ban.

The England playmaker was shown his first caution for an off-the-ball incident involving Spurs' Mateus Fernandes. He was then shown a second yellow card for a foul on Conor Gallagher.

In most cases, this would be served in that team's next Premier League match. However, Palmer will not miss Chelsea's meeting with United at Stamford Bridge.

Instead, Palmer is banned for the Blues' EFL Cup fourth-round match at Liverpool. This is because red card suspensions are carried out across domestic competitions rather than being specific to the competition they were received in.

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Aadam Patel
Football Reporter at Anfield

Andoni Iraola might have made seven changes but that is still a relatively strong starting lineup for Liverpool, with an experienced backline.

Like against Villarreal last week, the trio of Florian Wirtz, Bradley Barcola and Alexander Isak are on the bench and Iraola will know that he has plenty of firepower to call upon, if needed.

"We always want to win and that feeling only grows when you know what it means to earn a victory," Iraola says in his programme notes.

With four wins in their last four, the optimism around Anfield will only grow if Liverpool go through tonight.

Jobi McAnuff
Former Crystal Palace winger on BBC Radio 5 Live

I was really surprised not to see [Danny Welbeck] in the starting line-up last time, I thought that was exactly the type of situation that he was brought in for if Joao Pedro is not available.

Asking Morgan Rogers to do a job, which I'm sure he would try to do but he is not a specialist in that position.

Welbeck just knits everything together, but maybe it might be to do with with managing his minutes. This might have been one always on the cards for him to start so a really good opportunity for him, and a gentle reminder of what he can bring to the party, and to Xabi Alonso that, he is here, and wants to play a part.

Jobi McAnuff
Former Crystal Palace winger on BBC Radio 5 Live

I was quite surprised to see Virgil van Dijk starting.

Maybe it tells you a bit about where the squad is in terms of a lack of depth, because he is one that I had foreseen as being rested particularly with a huge huge game on Sunday.

Araujo, has played a lot of football, and I think he's been fantastic so far this season. It's just one or two that I thought might possibly get a rest, but I'm really delighted to see Rio Ngumoha starting.

Italy international goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is not be in goal for Manchester City this evening, with boss Enzo Maresca having decided to start Geronimo Rulli instead.

"He's good. Before I arrive here I had a conversation with him, he knows exactly his role. Day-by-day he is helping a lot," Maresca said.

"When he played some minutes he was good and tomorrow he will play again."

Rulli was signed from Marseille in the summer for £1.7m in a two-year deal. The Argentine was on City's books during the 2016-17 season, but left without making a first-team appearance.

Former Sunderland striker Marco Gabbiadini on Brian Brobbey's return at the weekend:

"At the end of last season and into this season he's started very well. [Wilson] Isidor is the back-up and not many supporters have too many complaints about his quality.

"[Timur] Tutierov is a young player coming through and it's a big job to do when you've not got any experience really at this level.

"To have Brian there, he certainly ruffles feathers and you can see defenders straight away are wary of his presence and try everything they can to stop it.

"He had a few opportunities, he still looked a little bit off the pace but that's understandable. You do need a focal point in your attacks.

"I'm pleased he's back and hope there is no further occurrence of his injury from that performance. He sensibly wasn't left on for the full 90. It's good to see him back."

It also must be great being a Brentford fan at the moment.

The Bees are currently sixth in the Premier League and need a win against bottom of the Premier League Sunderland to reach the last eight of the League Cup for the third year in a row.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

It is certainly an exciting time to be a Bournemouth fan.

Last week they enjoyed a dream result in the Europa League as they beat AC Milan 3-0 and then followed that up with a 3-0 win at Manchester United in the Premier League.

Tonight they host Aston Villa looking to make it five wins on the spin.

"I like the way they play," said Bournemouth boss Marco Rose on Villa.

"They are hard to play against, but so are we. We are going to be able to compete against them."

Manchester City boss Enzo Maresca says that Brighton are very "brave" as he prepares to face the Seagulls twice at home in four days this week, with the two sides also meeting in the Premier League on Saturday.

He praised them for doing "very well" this season and he expects both games to be tough.

"They are very brave in terms of aggression and when they have the ball, they attack with so many players and are creating many chances, scoring many goals," Meresca said.

"So yeah, we need to pay attention defensively and we need to do the right things offensively."

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Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler expects a tough challenge as they travel up north to face the Premier League leaders for this cup tie.

Despite losing their last game 2-0 to Liverpool, they have won three and draw one of their last five games.

"We know that City may be the best team in the league at the moment," Hurzeler said.

"It is another tough challenge for us, but we are ready for that, and we are going there to try and get to the next round."

He praised Enzo Maresca's side for playing with a "clear formation and clear style of play", and acknowledged that they "press very intensely with man rotation" so it's a new challenge for his team.

There's no Joao Pedro for Chelsea tonight, with the striker set for a few weeks out because of a thigh injury.

"We will miss him but we have to be ready to deal with that and win games and be competitive with the players we have available," Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso said.

"This is the situation. We have to be looking for solutions not for excuses. This is why you build a squad. For sure, some players are important but this can happen."

Crystal Palace currently sit one point above the drop zone in the Premier League having won just two games, drawn one and lost five.

They have not won a match since 11 October and pressure is mounting on boss Pierre Sage, who only joined the club in the summer following the departure of Oliver Glasner.

Reports suggest defeat by Tottenham in the league this weekend could see the end of his spell in south London. But can he provide the fans with a much-needed boost with victory tonight?

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Sunderland midfielder Luke O'Nien on the Black Cats' poor start to the season: "Belief is never going to leave this team.

"I think the [Premier League] table reflects fairly where you should be - which is really humbling - but the best of it is we're not going to be there for long if we do the things we did [against Leeds].

"It's in our hands to get back to what we did last year. [The performance against Leeds] was a step in the right direction."

Gary Bennett
Ex-Sunderland defender on BBC Radio Newcastle

I think that’s surprised a lot of people that, Alan Browne.

I think everyone was thinking, was he still at the club, but credit to him. He’s stuck in.

There were rumours that he was going to be moving back to Preston, it didn’t happen but to be fair, he’s got his head down and got on with things.