Newcastle hosted Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup with a place in the quarter-final on the line.
Eddie Howe named a strong starting eleven, the strongest he could have picked to be honest, as did Bournemouth, however despite being an all-Premier League clash, the quality was well below what you’d come to expect from two top-flight teams.
Fortunately, the performance doesn’t matter as long as you get the result and Newcastle did that coming away 1-0 victors an earning their place in the hat for the quarter-final draw.
Newcastle had the lion’s share of possession all game as well as the best chances, but it was a very poor night in front of goal.
Miguel Almiron missed an absolute sitter in hilarious fashion in the first half with the ball coming to him on the far post. All he had to do was tap it into an empty net but for some reason he chose to use his right foot, which we all know is made of spoons and cat food, and instead of calmly placing the ball into the net, he somehow managed to make it travel backwards while spinning on the spot. Considering how important Almiron had become before the break, it makes you wonder what he’s been up to while the world cup was on.
Newcastle did eventually take the lead on 67 minutes in equally comical circumstances with a whipped cross from Trippier met by the head of Bournemouth’s Adam Smith who nodded it into the far corner.
With over twenty minutes to capitalise on the lead and put the game to bed, Howe brought on Allan Saint-Maximin who did look like a bit of a menace going forward, managing to create a golden opportunity for fellow substitute Chris Wood to bury in the back of the net from 18 yards. Unfortunately, Wood had something else in mind as he hit a shot that might have knocked Harry Kane’s penalty ball out of orbit.
Thankfully, Newcastle were able to hang on to their slender lead and made it through to the next round of the cup. As they say, it doesn’t matter how they go in, as long as they do. Same thing applies to wins. Of course, it being Newcastle the scoreline could have been much different were it not for officials making odd calls. We had a goal disallowed for offside that absolutely wasn’t and a penalty for a blatant hand ball waved away. But we’ve come to expect those types of shenanigans with VAR, so we should absolutely expect them when there is no VAR.