EFL Cup: League Two Cambridge Head to Fulham

Fulham vs Cambridge United

EFL Cup football returns to Craven Cottage on Tuesday night when Fulham host a rare visitor, as League Two side Cambridge United visit the West End. 

Managed by Millwall legend Neil Harris, Cambridge have thrived so far in the cup, beating Championship opposition in the second round, but now they take another step up when they face Marco Silva’s Premier League outfit. Fulham beat Bristol City 2-0 in Round Two and come into the game in good form and, while Silva is sure to make changes, this is a great opportunity for the U’s to measure themselves against one of the top-flight elite.

The EFL Cup 2025 betting odds say the Cottage will be the end of the road for Harris’ heroes, but the magic of the cup means we can never, ever be sure. 

 

Talking Points

Fulham are starting to click

The Cottagers had to wait until the fourth game of the new Premier League campaign before they picked up their first win, after starting with two draws and then a defeat to Chelsea. The 2-0 loss to the Blues left a nasty taste in the mouth after a bizarre VAR decision turned the match in Chelsea’s favour. But, as well as winning their EFL Cup second round tie, Silva’s men recovered to win back-to-back league games. A clash with newly-promoted Leeds United was a superb opportunity to get off the mark but the Cottagers were strangely subdued until debutant Kevin livened things up and, as Fulham heaped on the pressure, a late own goal, courtesy of Gabriel Gudmundsson, gave them a crucial three points.   

In my SBOTOP preview of Fulham’s match against Brentford, I said Silva’s men would see off the Bees and, in a much more accomplished performance, so they did. Brentford struck first, but Alex Iwobi seized on some sloppy Brentford defending to lash home the equaliser. And the home fans only had to wait for a minute and a half for their side to take the lead as Harry Wilson, who scored two injury time goals to beat Brentford last season, was the man on the spot again, picking up a brilliant through ball from Iwobi before slamming it home. 

From that moment on it was all Fulham, and when Brentford centre back Ethan Pinnock headed past his own keeper to make it 3-1, it was game over as the Cottagers moved up to eighth. Winning is a habit and Silva will be keen to see his squad keep up the momentum on Tuesday night.   

 

Cambridge enjoy the EFL Cup

Relegated from League One last term the U’s have made a steady start to life in the fourth tier and are sitting ninth in the League Two table with four wins, two draws and three defeats. And their EFL Cup 2025 results have given the Cambridge fans more reason to be cheerful, beating League Two rivals Bristol Rovers in the first round before taking on Charlton, from the Championship, in Round Two. Charlton boss Nathan Jones made wholesale changes and the U’s took advantage, going 2-0 up within 30 minutes through James Brophy and Kylian Kouassi. Charlton’s Ibrahim Fuller halved the deficit just before the break, but any thoughts of the South Londoners fighting back were ended by a superb Zak Bradshaw finish ten minutes into the second half.

And Cambridge come into this game on the back of a 2-1 win over Fleetwood as they came from behind with two quickfire goals. The Cod Army almost went ahead on 55 minutes when they hit the post, but they did get their noses in front on the hour. Cambridge roared back as Kaikai sent in two great corners which caused havoc in the Fleetwood defence and were converted by Adam Mayor and Shayne Lavery.         

 

History

These two teams haven’t met since 1997 but the U’s used to like this fixture, winning six of the last ten meetings and losing just two. These were lower division encounters and neither club has reached the very summit of the English game. Fulham’s biggest prizes have been three second tier championships, but they did reach the FA Cup final in 1975 and now they are Premier League regulars. Meanwhile, Cambridge, founded in 1912, were the third tier champions in 1991.

Both teams come into the game in good shape; the Cottagers have won three, drawn two and lost one of the last six, while the U’s have won three, drawn one and lost two in that time.  

 

Betting Tip

Fulham are red hot favourites to win this tie at a price of 1.20, with Cambridge at 14.00 to spring a major surprise and the draw is at 6.25.

It will be a great night for the League Two minnows but I think they will bow out at the Cottage and I also expect we’ll see plenty of goals, with a 4-0 home win priced at 9.95 and 4-1 at 14.56.

   

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