MUMBAI: Digital is now attempting to spread its wings wider than television. For the first time in India, a football tournament will be broadcast only digitally, skipping the TV altogether. India’s only OTT service dedicated to sports, Veqta, will broadcast live games from the English Football League (EFL) this season.
The EFL cup, also known as the Carabao Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. All EFL matches including quarterfinals, semi finals and finals will be available live and exclusively on the Veqta.in website and the Veqta Sports Android application.
Veqta co-founder and director Varun Mathur said, “We are thrilled to be streaming the matches Live for the English Football League (Carabao Cup) in India. India has one of the largest fan bases in the world for top English football clubs, with the top six clubs having more than 50 million fans in the country. Veqta is excited to bring to the fans of top English Football teams like Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham, all the action from all the rounds of the Carabao Cup (EFL) in 2017-18. We are committed to bringing the best of world football to fans in India through the platform.”
The eight matches will be spread across two days Wednesday and Thursday, 25 and 26 October 2017 at 12.15 am onwards (IST). Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur along with 11 other teams will battle it out for qualification to the Quarter Finals.
Some of the key games will be –
Swansea vs Manchester United
United are the current champions of the EFL Cup and will be looking to bounce back after their embarrassing defeat at Huddersfield Town over the weekend, which was its first league defeat this season.
Swansea (15th in the PL table with 8 points in nine games) faces United (tied at 2nd in PL with 20 points in nine games) in its second encounter this season. The last one was dominated by United as it beat Swansea 4-0 at the Liberty stadium.
Swansea has proved to be a tough opponent for United with its last 8 encounters giving the Swans 3 wins and a draw.
Arsenal vs Norwich City
After a boisterous 5-2 thumping of Everton on Sunday, Arsenal looks to be back in form after what was a disappointing start to the league season.
With chances of winning the Premier League looking bleak for the London giants, the Carabao Cup could be a key trophy for Wenger this season to justify his position at the helm of Arsenal.
Last 8 games between Arsenal and Norwich – 5 wins for Arsenal, 2 draws, 1 win for Norwich.
Chelsea vs Everton
Ronald Koeman (Everton’s manager) looks to save his job after the team’s 2-5 defeat at home at the hands of Arsenal on Sunday which saw them drop down to the relegation zone of the PL table.
The last 3 games between the two have been all Chelsea victories with Chelsea scoring 10 goals and Everton scoring 0.
Just like Wenger, Koeman will also be looking at the EFL and the FA Cups for any silverware this season.
