Arsenal To Face WBA In Capital One Cup Third Round

The League Cup has been known as many things in its sponsored life.  It's been, among other things, the Milk Cup, the Rumbelows Cup, the Coca-Cola Cup, and the Carling Cup, and now it's going by the name of the Capital One Cup.  Whatever you call it, though, it has always ranked below the FA Cup in the eyes of most clubs as far as importance - most of the bigger clubs send youth squads to this competition, and even some of the smaller sides take it less seriously than they used to, particularly sides that are in relegation or promotion battles and need to focus their resources on those.

With all that as a background, the draw for the third round - the round in which the Premier League shows up - was done today.  The full draw is here, but all you really care about is Arsenal's opponent, which I gave away in the headline: Arsenal travel to The Hawthorns to face West Bromwich Albion in the week of Sept 23 (exact date TBD).

Other draws of some level of interest in this round include Liverpool's first chance to crash out of a competition as they face Manchester United, a PBFC visit to Villa in which the only loser may well be the viewing public, and Manchester City's welcoming of Wigan Athletic to the Etihad.

Today's thought experiment: if Arsenal win this trophy, does it quiet the baying NO TROPHEEZ FOR EIGHT YEARS masses, or does it turn those baying masses into YEAH BUT IT'S ONLY THE CAPITAL ONE CUP THIS TEAM SHOULD DO BETTER type stuff?  Is there any way Arsenal gets any respect out of this competition at all?