Newcastle United will host AFC Wimbledon in their rescheduled Carabao Cup fourth round tie at St James’ Park this evening and Eddie Howe could be set to make a number of changes.
The Magpies return to action after a well-earned draw with Manchester City at home over the weekend as they welcome AFC Wimbledon to the North East.
Originally scheduled to take place at Plough Lane, the clash between the pair – who are 67 places apart in the football pyramid – had to be rescheduled and relocated due to heavy rain in the capital, which left the home side’s pitch in no fit condition to play on.
Eddie Howe will be feeling confident that his squad can comfortably progress to the next round of the League Cup this evening given the gap in quality between the two, and the unexpected home advantage will only enhance that confidence under the lights at St James’ Park.
In terms of injuries, the Newcastle boss will continue to be unable to call upon Sven Botman, Jamaal Lascelles, Lewis Miley, Callum Wilson and Matt Targett.
Howe also gave an update on Alexander Isak who he has already been ruled out for the Carabao Cup clash due to a broken toe and an inability to train fully, but he further revealed the extent of his absence in his pre-match press conference yesterday:
“We’re sort of assessing him on a daily basis as there is a chance he could be fit for Everton if everything falls into place. Of course, we have a decision to make on whether we play him or leave him knowing he’d be OK two weeks afterwards.”
With a Premier League game at Goodison Park coming up at the weekend, it is highly likely that opportunities to start will be awarded to fringe players where possible and it will be a great chance for supporters to see the up-and-coming talent they have brewing in the depths of the squad.
How could Newcastle line up against AFC Wimbledon?
Nothing but Newcastle predicts that Howe will make eight changes to the starting eleven that shared spoils with Manchester City on Saturday, maintaining his classic 4-3-3 formation.
In the defensive set up, we expect there to be a number of changes with Martin Dubravka taking the spot in net from Nick Pope tonight, whilst ahead of him Lloyd Kelly, Tino Livramento and Emile Krafth are the three rotated in with an unchanged Lewis Hall, the only player to retain his spot in the back four.
In the centre of the pitch, Brazilian sensation Bruno Guimaraes is likely to keep his role in the defensive midfield position, and he will be joined by Sean Longstaff who displaces Joelinton, whilst Joe Willock earns a start over Sandro Tonali.
There is, however, argument for Tonali to earn an opportunity to retain his role by moving into Guimaraes’ position in the deep-lying role, however, Howe has not given the Italian a significant amount of game time this season so far, so may feel more comfortable trusting his captain to lead in the opening half at the very least.
In the attacking threat, we predict that Harvey Barnes is the only player remaining in the front three from the weekend with Anthony Gordon dropped from his makeshift nine role in place of summer signing William Osula, whilst Miguel Almiron returns to the starting eleven to replace Jacob Murphy on the right wing.
With that being said, despite a large amount of change to the starting line up there should be more than enough quality and experience to comfortably compete against Wimbledon this evening and earn the spot in the last 16 of the Carabao Cup.
