Premier League Clubs Return To Action After World Cup As Leicester Impress In EFL Cup

No Premier League club had played a competitive game for 37 days before five returned to action in the EFL Cup fourth round on Tuesday night.

No Premier League club had played a competitive game in 37 days before five returned to action in the EFL Cup fourth round on Tuesday night.

Leicester City, Newcastle United, Bournemouth, Southampton and Wolves were all back at it little more than 48 hours after the World Cup had ended.

England midfielder James Maddison was not part of the Leicester squad as they traveled to MK Dons, but three players that had featured at Qatar 2022 were involved.

Ghana center-back Daniel Amartey and Belgium midfielder Youri Tielemans both played the full 90 minutes as Leicester eased to a 3-0 win over their League One opponents.

Belgium defender Timothy Castagne also started for Leicester at Stadium MK.

Leicester were thoroughly dominant in the game, bossing possession with 73% against a Dons side that failed to record a shot on target.

Tielemans, Ayoze Perez and Jamie Vardy scored the goals as the Foxes cruised into the quarter-finals.

Youri Tielemans pictured celebrating after scoring for Leicester City during their 3-0 win at MK Dons :: IMAGO/Pro Sports Images/Dennis Goodwin

Newcastle joined Leicester in the last eight courtesy of a 1-0 home win over Bournemouth.

The only score of the game was an Adam Smith own goal midway through the second half.

All three of Newcastle's England internationals - Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier and Callum Wilson - started at St James' Park.

Fellow World Cup participants Fabian Schar, Bruno Guimaraes and Kieffer Moore were also involved.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Southampton came from a goal down to beat Lincoln 2-1 thanks to two strikes from Che Adams.

Wolves also beat lower league opposition by seeing off Gillingham 2-0 at Molineux.

Substitutes Raul Jimenez and Rayan Ait-Nouri got the goals for Wolves.