Now that the almighty Sky Sports have chosen their fixtures to be broadcast in the next round of the Carabao Cup, it becomes apparent which date our fixture against Bournemouth will take place.
Having progressed to the last 16 thanks to some Nick Pope heroics in the last round’s penalty shootout against Crystal Palace, Newcastle were rewarded with another home draw, this time against Eddie Howe’s former club, Bournemouth.
Despite it being an all-Premier League tie and having the Eddie Howe connection, our game was not selected by the Sky Sports overlords and as such will be played on Wednesday 21st December at 7:45pm, just three days after the end of the World Cup.
This means, should there, somehow, be an England v Brazil World Cup final, we’d have four players having just returned from Qatar with Bruno Guimaraes in the Brazil squad and Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier and Callum Wilson representing England. That’s four potentially jet-lagged first-team players that would be useful to have ready to go on the Wednesday night fixture.
Should England, Brazil or Switzerland crash out early, our boys return home with a bit more time to prepare for the Bournemouth game. You’d expect Brazil to be at least semi-finalists so that puts Bruno on shaky ground with regards to being ready for Bournemouth, but with England, it’s just impossible to tell. They’ve been woeful lately, their performances in the Nations League have been nothing short of embarrassing, but they do tend to turn it on for big tournaments.
Would You Rather...
England win the WC
Have our boys back for the EFL cup
Of course, this is entirely hypothetical, and it also suggests that I have no faith in the remaining players which isn’t true, especially as Alexander Isak is likely to be back for that game, and Bournemouth, despite grabbing a draw against us in the league, shouldn’t pose too much of a threat. Hopefully.
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