Newcastle United face Leicester City for the second time in a month tomorrow night with a place in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup on the line. Kick-off at St James’ Park is 8pm and the game is live on Sky Sports.
Eddie Howe has vowed to go strong against Leicester after fielding a weaker team in the FA Cup which backfired after Sheffield Wednesday won 2-1 at Hillsborough. Howe always had one eye on this game and that’s why he rested so many players on Saturday thinking his back-up team would have enough to see off League One opposition. He is not willing to make that mistake again and with a semi-final place up for grabs, Howe is taking this game seriously.
With that in mind, I think Howe will play the same team that faced Arsenal last week. Callum Wilson is expected to be back after his illness and will lead the line with Alexander Isak on the bench for this one after his 45 minutes against Sheffield Wednesday.
Isak looked sharp against The Owls despite his lengthy lay-off, but Wilson has the momentum and should get the nod. Unless Howe wants to tinker with the formation and put Joelinton back in the middle of the park where he belongs and puts Isak out on the left, sacrificing Sean Longstaff or Joe Willock.
The Magpies made light work of The Foxes on Boxing Day, but I’m not expecting things to go quite so easy tomorrow night, however, we should be able to see off the challenge, especially as we will have fire in our bellies after Saturday.
Score Prediction – Newcastle 2-0 Leicester (I just want another clean sheet for Nick Pope)