West Ham United will play Newcastle United in the first knock-out round the 2016/17 Premier League Cup. The tie will take place at Newcastle's St James' Park.
Terry Westley's men have beaten Newcastle once already this season when goals from Toni Martinez (2) and Marcus Browne completed a 3-1 win back in August. Today's draw means that the young Hammers will visit the North-east twice in the space of a few weeks, with the reverse of August's PL2 fixture set to take place in just three days time on Monday.
West Ham are holders of the Premier League Cup after they beat Hull City on penalties in May, after neither side could be separated over two legs and extra-time.
Djair Parfitt-Williams scored in the first leg at the Boleyn Ground to give the Hammers a slender advantage, but Will Annan made the scores level in the second leg.
Fortunately, the Hammers clinched the title on penalties, winning 5-3 on spot kicks at the KCOM Stadium.
Terry Westley's men were drawn in Group E with Leicester City, Nottingham Forest and Brighton and Hove Albion and made the perfect start, beating the Foxes 2-0 in arguably their best performance of the season so far.
The game is most likely remembered for Domingos Quina's outrageous 50 yard lob, which gave the Hammers a two goal cushion.
Their next fixture, played at the home of Alfreton Town FC, was against the lowest ranked side in the group but the U23s had to be right on their game against a spirited Nottingham Forest side.
Ben Brereton gave the hosts the lead in the first half before Jahmal Hector-Ingram equalised on the stroke of half-time. Marcus Browne slotted home the crucial winner with three minutes to play to make it two wins from two.
On match day three, the Hammers came up against Brighton and Hove Albion at the Chigwell Construction Stadium but despite an even fixture, they were beaten 3-1.
The Cup then resumed in February with the final three fixtures being played over a period of two and a half weeks.
It began with a resilient draw at home to Leicester after January signing Nathan Holland scored a last minute equaliser on just his third start for the U23s.
The Hammers then secured their spot in the last 16 with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Forest, with Joe Powell scoring his first two goals of the season. Holland also grabbed his second in as many games.
The final match of the group saw the Hammers visit Brighton once again, after previously meeting on the south coast in the league. Westley's men lost the fixture 3-0 but had already qualified for the next phase of the competition.