LONDON, Sept 22, (AP): The top Premier League clubs join the chase for the League Cup title starting Tuesday but the likes of Wayne Rooney, Michael Ballack, Cesc Fabregas and Steven Gerrard are likely to be given a break. Manchester United begins its defense of the trophy at home to Wolves, Chelsea hosts west London neighbor Queens Park Rangers, Arsenal welcomes League Championship leader West Bromwich Albion and Liverpool goes to League One Leeds in the third round. With the Premier and Champions Leagues considered their main targets, however, few of the them are expected to field their biggest stars in the search for English football’s third tier trophy. United and Arsenal have traditionally used the League Cup to give some of their young talent the experience of playing in a knockout competition which still acts as a route to the Europa League. Of the Gunners lineup that beat Wigan 4-0 on Saturday, only goalkeeper Vito Mannone is in the squad to face West Brom at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday although manager Arsene Wenger may well have the experienced Mikael Silvestre and Philippe Senderos in defense.

He is likely to give some of his rising stars such as Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey starts against a West Brom side which was relegated from the Premier League last season and on Saturday showed potential of a quick return by winning 5-0 at Middlesbrough.
United comes off a thrilling 4-3 victory over neighbor Manchester City on Sunday and faces Wolves on Wednesday.
Manager Alex Ferguson is likely to rest most of his front line stars and give players such as Danny Wellbeck and Frederico Macheda a start against Wolves, which climbed up the Premier League standings with a 2-1 victory over Fulham on Sunday.
With the only perfect record in the Premier League — six wins from six games — Chelsea has a three-point lead in the title race under Carlo Ancelotti, who has bucked the trend of previous Blues manager and made few unnecessary changes to his starting lineup.
That means he may give some of his backup players a start at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, with the likes of goalkeeper Ross Turnbull and striker Daniel Sturridge facing QPR.
Not long ago a Liverpool visit to Leeds was one of the highlights of the season. But that was when Leeds was a powerhouse team chasing for titles as recently as 2002.

Hit by financial mismanagement and the loss of top players, Leeds has slipped down to the third tier and that means Liverpool can probably afford to send out a backup lineup at Elland Road on Tuesday and still make it to the last 16.
The game offers manager Rafa Benitez a chance to give defender Daniel Agger a return for the first time this season since a back operation. Fabio Aurelio could also be back after a knee operation. Recent signing Sotiris Kyrgiakos could also start in defense but Benitez has rested players such as Gerrard and Fernando Torres.
Ryan Babel is in the squad, however, as the Dutch star tries to shrug off speculation that he is unhappy at not getting regular starts.
“The fact is I’m very happy here and I don’t want to leave to go anywhere,” Babel said on Monday. “Yes, there is a lot of competition for places at Liverpool but that’s the same at every top club.”
After its 4-3 loss at Old Trafford, Man City hosts Fulham on Wednesday, still without suspended striker Emmanuel Adebayor and injured Robinho and Roque Santa Cruz.
Other games in which Premier League teams face each other are Bolton vs. West Ham and Sunderland vs. Birmingham on Tuesday and Hull vs. Everton on Wednesday.