As Carabao Cup draws go, Norwich City could have landed easier ties.

The fact the Canaries will be at home at least provided a small crumb of comfort against the news Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool stand between them and the fourth round.

But hang on... Liverpool don’t take the League Cup seriously, do they?

Well, they kind of do. In the last three seasons Klopp has used the competition as a chance to give some of his fringe men some match action. However, when you have a squad the size of Liverpool’s then you can hardly describe any side the Reds are likely to put out as weak.

Only in the fifth round in 2019 have Liverpool put out a side purely made up of academy players when they were beaten by Aston Villa and that was only because the senior men were on the other side of the world winning the Club World Cup.

If you’re a Norwich fan then you would hope the spine of Liverpool’s side will be given the night off. The likes of Alisson, Virgil Van Dijk, Fabinho and Mo Salah could be putting their feet up.

However, players like Ibrahim Konate, Joe Gomez, James Milner, Curtis Jones are likely to be called upon and the Reds haven’t got a wealth of options up front which could mean at least one of the front liners like Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota and/or Roberto Firmino will be called upon.

Will Norwich chief Daniel Farke be worried? No – he's got a Premier League campaign to kickstart first and the German is also likely to use the competition as a chance to blood some of his players that need minutes.

The win over Bournemouth saw him given a lot of food for thought and he will be hoping whoever is chosen can do the same.

But they are likely to have to do it against a strong Liverpool team.

Liverpool in the Carabao Cup

2020/21

Third round: Lincoln 2 Liverpool 7

Starting XI: Adrian, Van Dijk, Tsimikas, R Williams, N Williams, Grujic, Jones, Shaqiri, Elliott, Minamino, Origi.


Fourth round: Liverpool 0 Arsenal 0 (Arsenal win 5-4 on pens)

Starting XI: Adrian, Van Dijk, R Williams, N Williams, Milner, Grujic, Jones, Wilson, Salah, Minamino, Jota.


2019/20

Third round: MK Dons 0 Liverpool 2

Starting XI: Kelleher, Lovren, Gomez, Hoever, Milner, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana, Jones, Elliott, Brewster.


Fourth round: Liverpool 5 Arsenal 5 (Liverpool win 5-4 on pens)

Starting XI: Kelleher, Gomez, Van Den Berg, N Williams, Milner, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana Elliott, Brewster, Origi.


Fifth round: Aston Villa 5 Liverpool 0

Starting XI: Kelleher, Hoever, Gallacher, Van Den Berg, Boyes, Kane, Christie-Davies, Elliott, Chirivella, Longstaff, Hill.


2018/19

Third round: Liverpool 1 Chelsea 2

Starting XI: Mignolet, Clyne, Lovren, Moreno, Matip, Fabinho, Milner, Keita, Shaqiri, Mane, Sturridge