EFL Cup PREVIEW 6 Aug 2026: Skubala's Bristol City host Adomah's Walsall in League Cup

Michael Skubala takes charge of his first competitive match as Bristol City manager when Walsall visit Ashton Gate for the Carabao Cup first round on Thursday evening. The League Two side have not played at Ashton Gate since 3 May 2015, when Bristol City closed out their League One title-winning season with an 8-2 win over the Saddlers, a result that remains both sides' biggest and most recent meeting.

That victory also sits at the top of an all-time record that favours City comfortably: 30 wins to Walsall's 21, with 16 draws from their history together. The clubs first met at Ashton Gate in October 1936, a goalless draw, and Walsall's first win over City did not come until April 1939, a 5-0 at Fellows Park.

Bristol City head into the tie having beaten Newcastle United 4-1 in a pre-season friendly last week, before following up with draws at Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City. Striker Dom Ballard has since arrived as the club's eighth summer signing, joining Sam Greenwood, Sam Tickle, Lisav Eissat, Jed Wallace, Gibson Yah, Brad Collins and Lorent Tolaj. Walsall, working under new head coach Lee Grant since May, have had a tougher build-up, failing to score in four of their five pre-season outings. Grant has been able to welcome Rico Browne and James Connolly back into training after injury, though both may come too soon for Thursday, while Alex Pattison remains sidelined with a hamstring problem.

The player most likely to draw attention from the home crowd is Albert Adomah, now 38 and part of Walsall's squad after three seasons at Bristol City between 2010 and 2013 in which he scored 17 goals in 136 appearances. Adomah signed a new contract with Walsall over the summer and has made 104 appearances for the club, making him the only player to have played more than 100 games for six different Football League clubs.