Walsall and West Brom face EFL Trophy slogs

Sixteen groups of four teams have been drawn out for the first round of this season's Trophy.

Walsall have Grimsby Town at home, but face a long midweek trip to Sheffield United and a visit to play Leicester City's academy in Group H of the Northern Section.

Albion's academy have two trips down south to face Millwall and Luton Town, before hosting Gillingham in Group H of the Southern Section.

Wolves academy were drawn in Group B of the Northern Section with relatively short trips to Chesterfield and Crewe, plus a home game against Accrington Stanley.

All three teams have fortunately escaped the longest trip in their group by having those fixtures at home.

According to the EFL, the 16 groups were supposed to be 'regionalised' and were split by division.

For example, the 12 most northern League One sides were put in the northern group.

That meant all three Black Country clubs were in different pots of the draw and it led to plenty of criticism over the layout on social media.

A group including Middlesbrough, Scunthorpe, Cambridge and Shrewsbury came in for particular scorn from incredulous supporters.

Each side will play the others once in the group stage, with the top two going through to a last 32 knockout round.

If games are level at full-time, then the teams will have a penalty shoot-out for an additional point.

At least six players featuring for the 16 academy teams must be under-21. The new-look Trophy has already courted controversy.

Top academies from Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham have decided to snub the tournament.

That decision allowed Wolves academy to enter the competition because of their 'category one' status.

Villa declined the offer, whereas Albion had already been invited because of their Premier League berth and category one academy.

Fixtures are scheduled for the week commencing August 29, October 3 and November 7.