There are 21 matches taking place in the competition tonight - including an all-Premier League showdown between South Coast rivals Brighton and Southampton - with many other top-flight and Championship clubs taking part too.

There is plenty to look forward to, then, so let's waste no time in getting started!

Well, we will see nine Premier League teams in action this evening, with all but the top seven - who are involved in Europe - entering the competition at this stage.

There are also a host of Championship clubs involved tonight, including high-flying duo Leeds and Middlesbrough, who take on Preston and Rochdale respectively.

Swansea vs. Crystal Palace (7.30pm)
AFC Wimbledon vs. West Ham
Blackburn vs. Lincoln
Bournemouth vs. MK Dons
Brentford vs. Cheltenham
Brighton vs. Southampton
Burton vs. Aston Villa
Cardiff vs. Norwich
Doncaster vs. Blackpool
Fulham vs. Exeter
Hull vs. Derby
Leeds vs. Preston
Leicester vs. Fleetwood
Middlesbrough vs. Rochdale
Newport vs. Oxford
QPR vs. Bristol Rovers
Sheffield Wednesday vs. Wolves
Walsall vs. Macclesfield
Wycombe vs. Forest Green
Stoke vs. Huddersfield (8pm)
West Brom vs. Mansfield (8pm)

There are possibilities for upsets galore, and one thing you are guaranteed with this competition is drama - even if it doesn't quite hold the prestige of some other trophies.

Nonetheless, there is not a team out of those 42 in action tonight they would not like to hoist the trophy above their heads at Wembley next year.

The day's early kickoff sees 10th in the Premier League take on 10th in the Championship, with recently-relegated Swansea hosting Crystal Palace at the Liberty Stadium.

The Swans come into this match off the back of their first defeat of the season - at home to Bristol City on Saturday - while Palace have lost their last two games after beating Fulham in their opener.

Our featured game this evening - for which we have in-depth live commentary - sees Wimbledon host a West Ham United side who are still looking for their first win, or indeed point, of the season.

The Hammers have lost to Liverpool, Bournemouth and Arsenal so far and are the only Premier League team yet to get off the mark, but they will be hopeful of getting a first win under Pellegrini under their belts tonight.

Hosts Wimbledon are winless in their last four games since emerging victorious from their opening games of the season, leaving them 14th in League One.

Wimbledon's arch-rivals MK Dons also face Premier League opposition this evening, although their task looks a little tougher as they face an away trip to Bournemouth, who have begun the campaign in flying fashion.

The Cherries have dropped only two points from their opening three games - and have been backed for silverware by manager Eddie Howe - although MK Dons have also made a positive start to life back in League Two, sitting second after an unbeaten campaign so far.

The only all-Premier League clash in the second round sees Brighton host Southampton in an intriguing battle on the South Coast. Brighton have beaten Manchester United in their only home game so far this season, and gave Liverpool a good run for their money at Anfield on Saturday, so they will be going into the game full of confidence.

Southampton, meanwhile, have just one point from their opening three games and have lost their last two to sit 17th in the table.

Another Premier League side still looking for their first win of the season is Cardiff, with Neil Warnock's newly-promoted Bluebirds having been held to successive goless draws against Newcastle and Huddersfield, despite seeing a man sent off for the opposition on both occasions.

Indeed, Cardiff are yet to even score this season, so Norwich - 18th in the Championship with just one win to their name - might fancy their chances of something of an upset this evening.

On the subject of newly-promoted teams, Fulham are actually the only ones to have come up from the Championship and won a game in the new Premier League season - doing so in some style on Sunday too with a 4-2 victory over Burnley.

That result lifted the Cottages up to 11th in the Premier League table, and tonight they will come up against high-flying Exeter, who sit third in League Two after falling to their first defeat of the season at MK Dons on Saturday.

Exeter beat Ipswich Town on penalties in the first round, so they have already claimed one significant scalp in this competition.

One of the all-Championship contests this evening sees Frank Lampard's Derby travel to Hull looking to make it three wins on the bounce. The Rams have won their last two games 2-0 apiece, lifting themselves up to sixth in the Championship as a result.

Hull, on the other hand, are languishing down in 19th place and have lost both home games so far this season ahead of tonight's match at the KCOM Stadium.

Another all-Championship affair sees the leaders Leeds United in action looking to maintain their unbeaten start under Marcelo Bielsa. The manager was a massive coup for the club and, while concerns were raised about him not being backed enough in the transfer market, he has so far worked his magic at Elland Road with only two points dropped from their opening five league games.

Preston pushed for the playoffs last season but find themselves 20th in the second tier after five games this time around, having failed to win since the opening day and failed to score in three successive away defeats.

The Jamie Vardy derby will, unfortunately, have to take place with the man himself due to suspension, but there should still be plenty of talking points as Joey Barton brings his Fleetwood team to town.

Barton has made a promising start to life in the dugout, shaking off an opening-day defeat to go unbeaten in the last five games across all competitions, but they take on a Leicester side that has won their last two outings since the opening defeat to Manchester United.

Completing the trio of newly-promoted Premier League sides in action tonight are Wolves, who visit Hillsborough off the back of a hugely impressive 1-1 draw against Manchester City, when they took the game to the champions and were rewarded for it.

Wolves are still without a win since their promotion, though, and they are coming up against a Wednesday team that has won their last two outings 2-1.

Finally, as far as Premier League teams are concerned, Huddersfield will take on recently-relegated Stoke in one of the two 8pm kickoffs as the Potters look to put a slow start to the season behind them and build on their first victory of the campaign, which came against Hull on Saturday.

Huddersfield may be following Stoke into the Championship if early signs are anything to go by, with their only point of the season so far coming in Saturday's goalless draw with Cardiff - albeit with 10 men.

The likes of Norwich, Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke will be looking to topple Premier League teams from the Championship, while AFC Wimbledon will fancy their chances of taking advantage of West Ham's slow start.

Newly-promoted Blackburn have settled back into Championship life very nicely so far this season, sitting fifth in the table and remaining unbeaten since returning to the second tier.

They will be favourites to extend that undefeated streak at home to Lincoln, but the visitors pose a threat having dropped just two points on their way to the top of the League Two table.

Another Championship vs. League Two showdown sees Brentford host Cheltenham at Griffin Park, where the hosts will be looking to bounce back from their first defeat of the season on Saturday - incidentally at the hands of Blackburn.

Cheltenham, by contrast, won their first game of the season at Cambridge on Saturday, but it has not been a good start to the campaign for them having lost their opening three games. They currently sit 20th in League Two.

This would have been a Championship clash last season, but now there is a big chasm between the two sides with Burton having struggled upon their return to League One. They have lost four of their five league games to sit in the relegation zone on three points.

Villa, by contrast, have shaken off their summer financial concerns to once again push for promotion this term. Steve Bruce's side are unbeaten this season, although they have drawn their last three games.

Even accounting for the Premier League teams in action, this looks like one of the biggest bankers of the evening. Middlesbrough are flying high in the Championship having won their last five matches across all competitions, and they are unbeaten in their six outings too.

Rochdale, by contrast, have picked up only one point from their last four games in League One to leave themselves 19th in the table.

While Middlesbrough are flying high in the Championship, QPR are languishing down in the relegation zone - although Steve McClaren did finally pick up his first win of the campaign in Saturday. Their win over Wigan ended a torrid run of form which had seen them lose their opening four league outings, including a 7-1 drubbing at the hands of West Brom.

Bristol Rovers have not been in much better form themselves, also losing four of their opening five games to sit 20th in League One.

West Brom may have inflicted that 7-1 defeat on QPR, but they themselves are still floating in mid-table during the early stages of the Championship season, having seen a three-game winning streak ended by Daniel Ayala's late winner for Middlesbrough on Friday night.

The Baggies host a Mansfield side unbeaten so far this season, although they have drawn their last four games to sit 13th in League Two.

There is one all-League One encounter this evening, with Doncaster hosting Blackpool. Donny sit five places above their visitors in the table as things stand, but they are winless and goalless in their last three games.

Blackpool may fancy their chances of victory tonight, then, having avoided defeat in their last four outings heading into this game.

Perhaps the best chance of a team beating higher-division opposition comes in this match between NEwport and Oxford. The hosts are unbeaten in five games since the opening day of the season and sit fifth in League Two as a result.

Oxford, meanwhile, are in the League One relegation zone having only picked up their first win of the campaign on Saturday, at the expense of Burton. Before that, Oxford had lost four on the bounce.

Another League One vs. League Two clash, but on this occasion there is a much bigger gulf between the two sides in terms of league position.

Walsall have made a very confident start to the campaign, dropping just two points to sit fourth in League One. Macclesfield, but contrast, sit 91st out of the 92 Football League teams having picked up only two points from a possible 15 so far this season.

Both of those points have come in their last two games, though, so there are slight signs of improvement.

And last but not least, Wycombe host Forest Green this evening hoping to build on their first win of the season over Bradford at the weekend - a result which lifted them up to 17th in the League One table.

Forest Green, by contrast, sit mid-table in League Two. They have made an unbeaten start to the campaign, but have drawn each of their last four matches.

A reminder that we have in-depth live coverage of AFC Wimbledon's clash with West Ham, which you can find here.

If any of tonight's matches are still level after 90 minutes - and I suspect a few will be - then we will be going straight to penalties.

Matches are kicking off all over the country, so all we have to do now is sit back and wait for the goals to arrive. The early rounds of the EFL Cup rarely disappoint on that front.

We've even had a goal in our feature game with Joe Pigott giving Wimbledon the lead! QPR have also scored early through Bright Osayi-Samuel, while Fulham are the first Premier League team off the mark courtesy of Aboubakar Kamara's strike.

Blackburn have also taken an early lead against Lincoln through Joe Nuttall's close-range finish.

Leicester also have the lead against Joey Barton's Fleetwood Town through a stunning 25-yard Christian Fuchs volley.

AFC Wimbledon's night gets even better!

QPR have doubled their advantage against Bristol Rovers, with Pawel Wszolek getting himself on the scoresheet at Loftus Road.

The League One side will have to make do with 10 men for more than 70 minutes against Premier League West Ham courtesy of a second yellow card for Rod McDonald, although they still lead the Hammers by a goal to nil.

There could be an upset brewing at Walsall, meanwhile, with League Two strugglers Macclesfield having doubled their lead courtesy of another stunner - this time from Harry Smith.

Lincoln have revived their hopes of an upset against Blackburn, meanwhile, with Joan Luque marking his full debut for the club with the equaliser against Blackburn.

Bournemouth are well on course for the third round too, having doubled their advantage against MK Dons through Ryan Fraser.

Blackpool have levelled things up against Doncaster, meanwhile, with Michael Nottingham getting the equaliser.

Elsewhere Jon Leko has opened his West Brom account with a tap-in to break the deadlock against Mansfield, and Julian Jeanvier has given Brentford the lead against Cheltenham with a close-range finish.

Brandon Barker has got their second goal at Elland Road and Leeds now have a mountain to climb, even with the extra man.

AFC Wimbledon 1-0 West Ham
Blackburn 1-1 Lincoln
Bournemouth 2-0 MK Dons
Brentford 1-0 Cheltenham
Brighton 0-0 Southampton
Burton 0-0 Aston Villa
Cardiff 0-1 Norwich
Doncaster 1-1 Blackpool
Fulham 1-0 Exeter
Hull 0-2 Derby
Leeds 0-2 Preston
Leicester 2-0 Fleetwood
Middlesbrough 1-0 Rochdale
Newport 0-2 Oxford
QPR 2-0 Bristol Rovers
Sheffield Wednesday 0-0 Wolves
Walsall 1-2 Macclesfield
Wycombe 0-0 Forest Green

Swansea 0-0 Crystal Palace
Stoke 0-0 Huddersfield
West Brom 1-0 Mansfield

Norwich also lead Premier League opposition in the form of Cardiff, while Macclesfield are ahead against Walsall despite sitting 23rd in the League Two table.

Wimbledon lead West Ham as I have already mentioned, while Preston are ahead against Championship leaders Leeds at Elland Road.

There is still an awful lot of time for that to change, though.

Just 45 minutes separate them from a possible place in the third round of the EFL Cup!

It looks like they could be being joined in the hat by Fulham, who have doubled lead over Exeter through Kamara's second of the match. AK47 scored after four minutes of the first half, but needed just three minutes of the second!

Blackburn regain the lead against Lincoln, meanwhile, courtesy of Danny Graham's strike five minutes after the restart.

Boro are two up against Rochdale, meanwhile, with Johnson turning provider to set up Jordan Hugill's headed finish - his first goal for the club!

A crazy couple of minutes at Wycombe too, where Scott Kashket gave the home side the lead, only for Dayle Grubb to immediately equalise for Forest Green.

Indeed, the other was a Premier League contest last season too, but we can cut Stoke and Huddersfield a bit of extra slack as they only kicked off at 8pm.

Blackburn have one foot in the third round, meanwhile, with Paul Downing opening up a two-goal advantage with a low strike into the bottom corner.

Elsewhere, QPR have all but sealed their place in the hat with a third goal from Matt Smith, while Premier League side Cardiff look set to crash out at the first hurdle - Srbeny has doubled his personal tally for Norwich.

Things are even worse for Cardiff, who have fallen 3-0 behind at home to Norwich courtesy of an Aarons strike.

Barton's fellow former England international Frank Lampard is having a better time of it, though - his Derby team lead Hull 3-0 courtesy of a second for Florian Jozefzoon. Wycombe have regained the lead against Forest Green through Anthony Stewart, meanwhile, and will hope to keep hold of it for significantly longer this time!

Blackburn have now effectively sealed their place in the next round, meanwhile, with Kasey Palmer giving them a three-goal lead over Lincoln with just over 10 minutes remaining.

Middlesbrough face a more nervous finale to their game after Rochdale pulled one back at the Riverside through Ryan Delaney.

Elsewhere, Forest Green and Mansfield may have done enough to force penalties through Winchester and Bishop respectively, while Mason Mount has extended Derby's lead and Ed Upson has scored a consolation for Bristol Rovers!

Macclesfield have also rescued penalties from their topsy-turvy clash with Walsall, while West Brom appear to have done enough to beat Mansfield - although that was a late kickoff so there is still time in that one.

West Brom will also be in the hat for the third round, having held on against League Two Manfield.

Swansea 0-1 Crystal Palace
AFC Wimbledon 1-3 West Ham
Blackburn 4-1 Leicester
Bournemouth 3-0 MK Dons
Brentford 1-0 Cheltenham
Brighton 0-1 Southampton
Burton 1-0 Aston Villa
Cardiff 1-3 Norwich
Doncaster 1-2 Blackpool
Fulham 2-0 Exeter
Hull 0-4 Derby
Leeds 0-2 Preston
Leicester 4-0 Fleetwood
Middlesbrough 2-1 Rochdale
Newport 0-3 Oxford
QPR 3-1 Bristol Rovers
Sheffield Wednesday 0-2 Wolves
Walsall 3-3 Macclesfield (Macclesfield win 3-1 on penalties)
Wycombe 2-2 Forest Green (Wycombe win 4-3 on penalties)
Stoke 2-0 Huddersfield
West Brom 2-1 Mansfield

Thank you very much for joining Sports Mole for a typically action-packed night of EFL Cup football, with goals galore and a couple of shocks thrown in for good measure.

Cardiff, Brighton and Huddersfield are the Premier League teams to crash out, while Championship leaders Leeds lost at home to 10-man Preston and League Two strugglers Macclesfield beat Walsall on penalties. There is more EFL Cup action tomorrow night too, so be sure to check back in with us for that!

From me, though, it is goodbye for now!