EFL said the error led to Newcastle drawing Man City at home rather than Fulham away
By Kehinde Okeowo
A league of professional football clubs from England and Wales, better known as the English Football League (EFL) has acknowledged it made a mistake during Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup third round draw.
Prior to this development, TheNiche had reported that Manchester City were handed a tough away fixture against Newcastle in the draw.
It also said City rivals, Man United will host Crystal Palace at Old Trafford, while Liverpool welcome championship side, Leicester City at Anfield.
Arsenal will also travel to Brentford to face fellow London club, while Chelsea also have a tough home fixture against Brighton at Stamford Bridge.
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However, hours after the draws were made and announced, EFL admitted to making a blunder, which saw Newcastle draw Manchester City at home rather than Fulham away.
With the ball numbers usually handed out in alphabetical order, Newcastle should have gotten the No 19, rather than No 20, with Norwich inexplicably taking No 19 despite coming after the Magpies in the alphabet.
The Canaries were handed a more favourable trip to Fulham, although the Championship outfit will still be hard-pressed to progress.
According to Mail Sport, the EFL has since acknowledged the mistake, although a spokesperson stated that guidelines do not state that numbers must be given on the basis of alphabetical order, and as such the competition’s integrity has not been hampered.