Tottenham Hotspur are all set to kick off their 2026/27 Carabao Cup campaign as they host Championship outfit Charlton Athletic in the second round on Wednesday.
It was a miserable start to Tottenham Hotspur‘s Premier League campaign on Saturday as they fell to an embarrassing 3-0 defeat to Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.
That performance nowhere reflected the kind of football Roberto De Zerbi wants his team to play, with the Italian admitting after the game that they still ‘aren’t a team yet’ and that the process naturally takes time.
No one had seen such a toothless display coming, especially after the club enjoyed an unbeaten pre-season run in which they won five games and drew two.
Charlton Athletic, meanwhile, have made a dream start to their Championship season, winning both of their games so far and sitting third in the English second division.
After beating Derby County 2-1 on the opening day, the south-east London-based club managed to get the better of the very side that were relegated at Tottenham’s expense from the Premier League last season, beating West Ham 2-1 at the weekend.
What time does Tottenham vs Charlton kick off?
- Location: London, England
- Stadium: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
- Date: Wednesday, 26 August 2026
- Kick-off time: 7:45pm BST
- Referee: Thomas Bramall
- League Cup
-
TottenhamTottenham
CharltonCharlton
-
Tottenham team news
Captain Micky van de Ven and his vice-captain Pedro Porro missed out on the Brentford game, with Roberto De Zerbi confirming that both will be on the bench for this fixture.
The Italian also revealed that James Maddison suffered a ‘small injury’ to his shoulder and will miss out, as will Mohammed Kudus, who has not featured since early January and ‘is not ready’ yet.
Other confirmed absentees include Xavi Simons, Dejan Kulusevski and Wilson Odobert.
On the other hand, Spurs’ latest £85m summer signing Savinho has been registered with the FA and is eligible to feature in this fixture.
Predicted Tottenham line-up
Tottenham: Kinsky; Gray, Van Hecke, Senesi, Udogie; Bergvall, Fernandes, Bentancur; Tel, Solanke, Moore.
We expect De Zerbi to go with a near full-strength line-up given his squad is still some way off the physicality needed in the Premier League, and this game should prove valuable in helping them build towards that.
The Spurs head coach has already dropped multiple hints over the XI that could start here, revealing that Dominic Solanke is ‘available to start’ while also saying this game would be the right step for youngsters Mathys Tel, Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray to become better.
Our prediction
De Zerbi revealed that the Carabao Cup is just like the Premier League for him and that he will not differentiate between the importance of the competition or individual matches, despite the common stigma around the competition being an opportunity for bigger clubs to give their backup and younger players minutes.
He also added, in his own words: “There is a game; we have to play well and get used to winning the game and the matches. And matches – not match.”
Keep an eye on new signing Savinho, who has been very much looking forward to playing for Tottenham, and could be set for his debut as a substitute later in the game.
The two clubs last met in 2011, when Tottenham beat Charlton 3-0 in the FA Cup, and we are backing them to repeat that scoreline this time around.
Predicted score: Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Charlton Athletic