Preston North End will find out Carabao Cup opponents at a Wembley supermarket

Daniel Johnson is congratulated after putting PNE in front against Leeds in the League Cup last season

The EFL are at least moving the draw closer to home after previously holding it as far afield as Thailand and  Vietnam.

Morrisons in Colindale, London, is the venue for the draw, another strange choice.

Conducting the draw will be ex-England and Liverpool winger John Barnes and former  Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour.

It is being held on Thursday evening at 7pm, the Football League’s fixtures having been released earlier in the day.

PNE reached the third round of the competition last season. They beat League Two side Morecambe 3-1 in the first round at Deepdale with goals from Brandon Barker, Louis Moult and Graham Burke.

That earned them a trip to Leeds United, with Daniel Johnson’s early penalty and a stunning solo effort from Barker giving them a 2-0 win.

Barker, who was on loan from Manchester City, ran from deep in his own half to find the net.

In the third round they were beaten on penalties by Middlesbrough at Deepdale, the 90 minutes having ended in a 2-2 draw.

The first-round draw will be regionalised, with games played the week beginning August 12 – after the first two league games.

Huddersfield will feature in the first round draw but Fulham and Cardiff who were relegated with them from the Premier League, will join in the second round together with the Premier League sides not playing in Europe.

The League Cup, under its various sponsors’ guises, has been played since 1960/61. The furthest North End have gone in the competition is the fifth round.

While the draw is back on English turf, doing it among the fruit and veg at Morrisons is bizarre to say the least.

John Luck, of competition sponsors Intercarabao UK, said: “We are delighted to be hosting the Carabao Cup first-round draw later this week with the help of our friends at Morrisons.

“We’ve held Carabao Cup first-round draws across the globe in Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City but it feels exciting to us to bring it back to the UK this year.”

Manchester City are the holders of the trophy, having beaten Chelsea on penalties at Wembley – Rahem Sterling netting the winning spot-kick.