The Capital One Cup has been considered to be one of the least important competitions in England, but regardless of that, no team goes into a match wanting to be eliminated.
This week, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham will get a chance to potentially field some younger players, but progressing to the next round will certainly be on their mind.
For the Gunners, their current run of form gives their fans a new found confidence. An opening defeat against Aston Villa did not sit well amongst the Arsenal faithful, but the players, the board and management have done their job to bounce back brilliantly.
Currently on a seven match winning streak across all competitions and sitting top of the Premier League, Arsene Wenger's side will travel to The Hawthorns to take on West Bromwich Albion, wanting to make it through to the fourth round.
While attempting to do just that, Wenger will want to give some of his more utilized players a rest, but underestimating the Baggies would be a big mistake. Considering their considerable injury problems, Wenger may still feature a number of regular starters, but anything less than a victory would be a big blow to the North London side.
Chelsea's match on Tuesday may come across as an easier fixture, but that could prove to be a false belief.
Jose Mourinho's squad has not had the greatest of starts to the new campaign, and after their defeat at home against Basel, a victory over Fulham was needed. The Portuguese manager will now need to get his players to focus ahead of their elimination match against the Robins.
While the hosts will be without Ryan Mason and Ryan Harley, their fans will be hopeful that they could deal Mourinho yet another blow since his return to Stamford Bridge. Seeing how the Blues have been inconsistent at times this season, this match with Swindon could turn out to be a very tricky fixture for the Special One.
But none of these two matches should be as exciting as the one between Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.
Paul Lambert's side will welcome Spurs to Villa Park after both clubs came away with 1-0 victories away from home at the weekend. Wanting to extend their stay in the Capital One Cup, one of these Premier League clubs will be left behind, but who?
AVB's arrival brought Spurs a breath of fresh air, although the club already played an attractive style of football under Harry Redknapp. But along with his philosophy and style, the Portuguese manager has also helped bring in just about £100m worth of talent over the summer.
With all that money spent on new players, crashing out of the competition on Tuesday would not sit well with the fans.
All three of these London rivals would be expected to win their respective matches, but knowing that anything is possible in a football match, a surprise or two could leave a few fans very unhappy.
