EFL Cup REVIEW 8 Sep 2026: Ryan Christie's hat-trick hands Marco Rose his first Bournemouth win as Bradford become Yorkshire's lone survivors

The individual story of the round belongs to Ryan Christie, whose hat-trick fired Bournemouth to a 4-0 win over Lincoln City and, per Yahoo Sports, delivered a landmark for the home dugout: "Ryan Christie hat-trick inspires Bournemouth to dominant Carabao Cup victory as Marco Rose secures first win." The Irish News/PA described the opener in detail — "The midfielder opened the scoring after just seven minutes, turning home Ben Gannon-Doak's cross from the left with a cushioned volley" — before he added a second, "heading in a David Brooks corner", completing his treble in the 88th minute; Rayan added a fourth in stoppage time. At Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace beat Middlesbrough 3-0 with a Jorgen Strand Larsen brace either side of a Daichi Kamada goal, both sides having rotated heavily — the Irish News/PA noting Boro's selection gamble in particular: "having named the Championship's leading scorer Will Lankshear on the bench as both teams made eight changes, they lacked the firepower needed to capitalise on their impressive endeavour in the final third." Palace's approach was built around patience: "Palace, meanwhile, were content to sit back and absorb the persistent waves of attacks before pouncing on the counter when the moment arose – the theme for all three of their goals."

Bradford City's away run continued at Leyton Orient, a 3-1 win built on a Macauley Gillesphey own goal before Will Swan, Stephen Humphrys and Nick Powell put the tie beyond doubt. It leaves Bradford, per the Yorkshire Post, standing alone regionally: "Bradford City are the first Yorkshire club through to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup, but there were defeats for Hull City and Middlesbrough on Tuesday night." Graham Alexander had set the tone beforehand, framing cup football as central to his side's whole approach: "It's why we're always strong in our cup competitions. We take them all seriously, every single game, because the more games we have, the better it is for the squad", adding of the physical and financial cost of the run, "I want all my players to have that feeling that they all got against Burnley." Sunderland progressed at the expense of Hull City, Chemsdine Talbi's 71st-minute goal enough for a 1-0 win after Regis Le Bris made wholesale changes — "11 changes from the squad who drew with Brentford at the weekend, with Dayann Methalie and Jules Ahoka handed their debuts alongside a full debut for Malick Fofana", per Yahoo Sports/PA, who add that the win "booked Sunderland's spot in the fourth round of the competition, which takes place at the end of October." And Newcastle United won 1-0 at Millwall through a Joe Willock goal in the 81st minute, with Matthias Jaissle having downplayed the hostile away atmosphere beforehand: "It will be a bit of a special atmosphere down there, I'm aware of that, but it doesn't influence my coaching and it should not influence the players... We need to focus what we can influence on the pitch and if we do our job, we come a lot further."