Who is up for the Carabao Cup? All you need to know about the last four

The Carabao Cup semi-finals will see Southampton take on Newcastle while Manchester United face Nottingham Forest.

Here, Football Mad focuses on this season’s last-four ties.

How did they get there?

Saints stunned perennial winners Manchester City 2-0 in their quarter-final thanks to goals from Sekou Mara and Moussa Djenepo. They had previously beaten Cambridge, Sheffield Wednesday and Lincoln. Newcastle have seen off Tranmere, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Leicester while Forest beat Wolves on penalties after wins over Grimsby, Tottenham and Blackburn. United’s victims were Aston Villa, Burnley and Charlton.

Who’s likely to win?

Manchester United are odds-on favourites to lift a sixth League Cup, while four-time winners Forest are the 14-1 outsiders.

Who’s won it before?

The Red Devils last won the competition in 2017 – against Southampton – but success has been harder to come by for the other three. Forest’s last triumph was the 1990 final, a 1-0 win over Oldham. Newcastle’s last trophy of any description was the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and they, like Saints, have never won the League Cup.

Do the winners get into Europe?

The winners of the Carabao Cup will qualify for a place in the Europa Conference League play-off stages. If the winners finish in the top five of the Premier League, which Manchester United and Newcastle will hope to do, then their play-off place will go to the next-highest ranked team not qualified for Europe in the Premier League.

When are the ties?

The semi-finals are played over two legs and are currently scheduled for Tuesday, January 24 and a week later on Tuesday, January 31. Forest and Southampton will play the home legs first. The final takes place at Wembley on Sunday, February 26.