After the intense showdown against Liverpool, Manchester City's next challenge would come in the Second Round of the League Cup, where they were set to face lower-league side Lincoln City. Following that, they would return to Premier League action with their fifth fixture—an away match against Nottingham Forest.
This year's League Cup format remains largely the same as the previous season, with only one key difference: the number of teams in the First Round has increased—from 56 to 66—adding 10 more clubs to the initial stage of the competition.
66 clubs from the First, Second, and Third Divisions participated. These teams were split into seeded and unseeded pots based on their final standings from the 1995–96 campaign. This structure aimed to balance competition and reward higher-ranked teams with slightly more favorable matchups.
