Confident Forest to spring a surprise at Newcastle

Second-round matches
From 7.30pm Wednesday

Nottingham Forest are the sixth most successful club in the history of the EFL Cup having won it four times, and they can continue to progress in the 2017-18 competition by beating Newcastle at St James's Park.

There is, of course, a sizeable gap in quality between the Premier League and the Sky Bet Championship, but an even contest is in store between the struggling Magpies and high-flying Forest, who are fourth in the second tier.

Newcastle could do with a win to boost their confidence but Rafa Benitez is preparing to make changes to ensure key men are fresh for Saturday's clash at home to West Ham.

Benitez's options are limited by the absences of Dwight Gayle (illness) and Jonjo Shelvey (suspension) and by the lack of depth in a squad which has not been enhanced enough since last season's promotion.

With deadline day looming next Thursday, Newcastle are scrambling to get better players in and give themselves a good chance of top-flight survival.

But the mood is much calmer at Forest, who did most of their recruitment earlier in the summer.

Forest have used six of their new signings during the first four games of the Championship season, including striker Daryl Murphy, who has scored three goals since his arrival from Newcastle.

Murphy was given few opportunities during his one season on Tyneside and will be keen to prove a point to Benitez.

Forest are likely to be without David Vaughan, who was injured during Saturday's 2-1 win at home to Middlesbrough, but are playing with a lot of confidence and look overpriced to win inside normal time.

Burnley manager Sean Dyche is planning to ring the changes for the Lancashire derby at Blackburn but there is value to be had in backing the away side at odds-against.

Staying up last season has given Burnley the financial clout to improve the quality and depth of their squad.

Summer signings Charlie Taylor and Jonathan Walters had to be content with substitute roles for Saturday's 1-0 loss at home to West Brom, but they will come into contention as will record signing Chris Wood, who joined in a £15m deal from Leeds on Monday.

Blackburn will do their best to bridge the two-division gap as they look to build on Saturday's 1-0 win at Bradford.

However, Rovers are 17th in Sky Bet League One and may struggle to match the quality of their opponents.

Recommendations
Nottingham Forest
1pt 7-1 bet365
Burnley
1pt 13-10 Hills

Bet on these matches at Soccerbase.com