Is the League Cup relevant again?

Has the League Cup endured a resurgence of relevance and a renewed desirability to compete on the part of the "big teams"?

Look at the quarter final line-up;

Man Utd,
Man City,
Chelsea,
Arsenal,
Liverpool - all present.

Along with Blackburn, Cardiff and Palace.

The QF's could throw up some very tasty ties. And if 4 of those big 5 teams make it through to the semis, some very entertaining two-legged affairs in prospect!

Or is this just a worrying case of even the "big teams" reserves now being too good for the rest?

In fairness I have never deemed it irrelevant. If big teams decide no to deem it as a priority, that's their choice. Look at how the Arsenal fans were getting excited over the prospect of winning it this year.

Man Utd will certainly focus their efforts more on it given that there is a shift in league dominance and also to consider will be Europe. What will teams like Chelsea and Man Utd do if they can't conquer the League or Europe?

I have always felt it should carry importance as past the money aspect that other competitions generate, people will remember teams that win trophies, not teams that sold the most shirts.

I think unfortunately its a case that the reserve teams now are just that good. Look at City last night, they made 11 changes from the team that started against United. These changes included Nasri, Dzeko, Johnson, Kolo Toure! They had a guy earning £90,000 a week on the bench!

As a Palace season ticket holder I am salivating for the draw at noon on Saturday.

I am praying for Arsenal away or United at home as it could mean some serious cash for the club

A few years ago we drew City in the 3rd round I think it was and the gate was something like 22,000...ok we lost 2-0 but we should a good account for ourselves against the likes of Tevez, Richards, Barry et al.

Knowing our luck we'll get Cardiff or Blackburn away though but considering our recent form and Sir Dougie at the helm I would expect us to go for the win with a full strength team!

I think 'big' teams use it to give reserve players a taste of first team football to make them feel valued- Owen at Man Utd only plays these games it seems.

I'm surprised that more teams don't try and get as far as they can. I know Newcastle put out a strong team because a cup run brings in some money to a mid-table or struggling Premier League side. Another reason to want to do well is if you can get to the final you have the chance of qualifying for Europe. For a team that will sit from 12th-8th place, they know if they go far in this they don't have to come 7th in the league.

To be fair, in the last 10 years, Man Utd have won it 3 times, Liverpool & Chelsea twice, Spurs once (the other 2 winners are Blackburn & Birmingham), so you could say that it's been fairly relevant for a while.
At the end of the day it's a trophey, and nowadays clubs are judged on how many tropheys they win, there are only 3, and most clubs have no chance in the league, so the League& F.A cup should become more relevent.

It's only relevant if you believe it is.
Look at it objectively though and you'll see that the really BIG clubs haven't taken it seriously for quite a while now, for them it's there to give the kids, new tactics and players returning from injury a go.
For PL teams who'll struggle against relegation, it's classed as extra games they don't really need, or want.

Generally speaking, both these groups of teams will only take it seriously when they get to the last 8, it seems that in these 2 groups only Arsenal stick to their principals from the first round to the final, but I don't know whether this makes them (Arsene) the only side who's honest to their fans, or just too stubborn to change, even when trophies are at stake.

I don't like how important the Premier League has become, the cups used to be so entertaining but both are seen as more of an inconvienence now and every last possible position in the league is worth more than winning a cup

The Champions League has killed football