Newcastle United and Tottenham clash in a heavyweight Carabao Cup fixture on Wednesday night.
Eddie Howe’s side are looking to make further progress in their defence of the Carabao Cup trophy, which they famously lifted back in March after beating Liverpool in the final at Wembley.
It is a difficult test for Newcastle United. Spurs are in impressive form under Thomas Frank and sit third in the Premier League, so arrive at St James’ Park full of confidence.
Still, this competition has been very kind to the Newcastle United manager since he arrived at the club. His team have never failed to reach the quarter-finals under his watch and now would be a bad time to start.
Arguably the standout fixture of the tournament in this round, here’s how to keep across all the action.
The Toon boss has stressed that Newcastle do not want to relinquish their grasp on the Carabao Cup.
It would not be a surprise to see Howe rotate his squad for the game but that does not mean they are taking the fixture lightly.
Such has been their record under Howe in this tournament, losing a home game would be a bitter blow for the club.
“We’ve had a lot of great experiences in this competition – the first final, the emotions after the game, feeling we could have done more on the pitch,” he said.
“The Chelsea defeat (in 2023/24) is still very painful – we had a chance to win the competition that year – but we put it right. We had a lot of tough opponents – we didn’t get to the final by luck. That experience, winning the cup, has helped us grow as a team.”
The Magpies are no strangers to going back in for players they missed out on. In fact, it is the foundation of their current centre-back pairing. Newcastle United missed out on Sven Botman six months before completing a deal, while 12 months separated Eddie Howe’s first move for Malick Thiaw and his arrival at St James’ Park.
There have also been multiple pursuits of Hugo Ekitike, but the less said about that the better.
Now Newcastle United have another opportunity to swoop in for a former target, with Lucas Paqueta eyeing a fresh challenge.
