How Europe’s nine teams influence the Premier League

The teams that qualify for Europe are eliminated in the third round of the EFL Cup.

And typically, teams that finish 18th and 19th in the Premier League are eliminated in round two – along with the rest of the top-flight teams that avoid relegation.

But this all depends on the number of clubs qualifying for Europe, which affects the number of slots in the third round. The more teams that receive byes in round three, the fewer slots a team will have to advance to round two.

For the straight knockout format to work, there must be 32 teams in the three rounds.

That means if eight teams are eliminated by qualifying for Europe, 24 teams will have to come from the second round.

And that means 24 knockout ties in round two – which must have 48 teams. And that means 36 teams have to come from the first round.

To do the math, West Ham And Burnley To begin with, the first round will be played on the weekend of August 7-9. They make it 72 teams and 36 first round ties.

With nine teams qualifying, it’s a bit more complicated.

There are only 23 slots available in round three, so the EFL needs to lose a tie – or two teams – through the preliminary round of fixtures.

It will feature two teams promoted from the National League – York and Rochdale – and the 21st and 22nd clubs in League Two – Tranmere and Crawley.

But there is a problem, as the first round is regionalized in the North and South divisions.

When this happened last season, there was the perfect solution. Accrington play Oldham and Barnet take on Newport – one winner feeding North and the other South.

Next season, three northern clubs and one from the south will be in the preliminary round.

The EFL could choose Crawley to play Tranmere – the most southerly of the three northern clubs in the preliminary round.

Rochdale and York will then meet A repeat of last season’s dramatic automatic promotion decision.

But Tranmere is the furthest west club – in fact all three northern clubs are the same distance from Crawley. So the EFL could hold an open draw for the preliminary round – and one club would have to go south for the first round.

The EFL could then potentially rebalance the regions for a second round draw, if for example York were incorrectly moved south.

Since the preliminary round will take place just before the first round, there is practically not enough time to play that tie, and then hold another draw.