There will be two Liverpool teams kicking off at 7.45pm tonight.
While Jurgen Klopp 's men will be in Milton Keynes for the third round of the Carabao Cup, Neil Critchley will take his young Reds side to Fleetwood for a must-win leasing.com EFL trophy fixture.
The competition features teams from League One and Two as well as 16 invited Premier League and Championship clubs with Category One academies.
The clubs are divided into regional groups with Liverpool and Fleetwood in Northern Group B alongside Oldham and Accrington Stanley.
Tonight's game in Lancashire is pivotal as both sides lost their opening fixtures and will be eliminated if they lose again tonight.
The Reds were narrowly defeated by Oldham in August despite goals from Harvey Elliott and Neco Williams.
The timing of tonight's fixture could not be worse for Critchley with some of his players expected to be included in Klopp's squad at MK Dons.
Liverpool's assistant manager Pep Lijnders hinted Elliott could join up with the first team and he would be a big loss for the academy team.
Another young player expected to be in Klopp's squad tonight is 17-year-old Sepp van den Berg who also played for the U21's at Oldham.
Herbie Kane, Leighton Clarkson and Luis Longstaff are also likely to be with the first team and won't be available for Critchley to bring in.
The academy boss also lost Bobby Duncan earlier this month when the 19-year-old completed a transfer to Fiorentina.
This could force him to promote some of the U18 players but they face a tough task against League One opposition.
Fleetwood are fourth in the league table and have emerged as early promotion candidates having taken 17 points from nine games.
Focus will be on events in Buckinghamshire tonight but Liverpool fans may want to keep an eye on the game taking place 182 miles North as future Reds stars try to keep themselves in another competition.
