🏆 Birmingham (A) Pre-match thoughts, team news, possible line up and prediction
The cup games keep on coming for Newcastle United, as we must recharge, reset and refocus from the highs of reaching Wembley to Saturday night's FA Cup fourth-round tie at Birmingham City.
Wednesday night was simply magnificent. An electric atmosphere, a tactical masterclass from Eddie Howe and a ferocious yet controlled display from first minute to last from all 11 players, who did us proud in a 2-0 win over Arsenal.
Liverpool await in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday 16th March, but first up we face a trip to League One promotion hopefuls Birmingham City.
The Blues are top of League One and have lost just one of their last 16 games at St Andrews, so they'll be bang up for this and hoping for a Premier League scalp. It's up to us to arrive with the right attitude and a big chance for some of our fringe men to step up to the plate.
Howe’s pre-match comments
On Carabao Cup final - "We have a great game lined up (against Liverpool). Whoever we were going to face it was going to be a real challenge. It will be a mouthwatering tie, we are really looking forward to it."
On Birmingham City - "We respect them, Chris Davies has done a brilliant job. Every time you go to Birmingham, you realise the size of the club. It is a huge football club with a brilliant supporter base. It is a really good ground to play at.
"We see this as a big challenge, and we need to rise to the challenge. They are a very aggressive, a high pressing team, we cannot underestimate them in any way."
Howe on rotation - "We will have to make changes, it would be a difficult ask for those players to go again, physically and mentally. We don’t have a huge squad in terms of depth, we will give opportunities to other players, but they will have to take their chance. We will use the game to share the load. The guys that come in need to grab that opportunity."
On Sven Botman - "Sven is not available for this weekend. He has taken a knock to his knee [the opposite one to his ACL injury]. We don’t believe it is serious but enough to keep him out of the Birmingham game."
On Callum Wilson - "He seems fine. Callum is very confident about his body at this moment in time. He's gone through several things differently this time around in his recovery. He's trained very hard. He feels robust, strong and ready to start games."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze7J8L_Kwj0
Team news
Sven Botman (knee) won't play this one but should be fine for Man City next weekend, Joelinton (knee) will me missing or "weeks not months" and Harvey Barnes (thigh) will miss out again along with Jamaal Lascelles (ACL).
Callum Wilson is "ready to start" after his brief cameo on Wednesday and Howe has hinted at rotation after our massive effort in midweek, meaning the likes of Nick Pope, Emil Krath, Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock could come into the side.
Predicted line-up
(4-3-3): Pope - Livramento, Krafth, Schar, Targett - Longstaff, Miley, Willock - Osula, Wilson, Gordon.
Howe has already hinted at rotation due to the physical and mental demands on many of those involved in Wednesday night's game. Mixing it up feels necessary, especially with three tough Premier League games on the horizon against Man City, Nottingham Forest and Liverpool.
I expect a fit-again Pope to start, Livramento to return at right-back, Krath to hand one of our centre-backs a rest and for Targett to give Hall a well-earned rest at left-back.
In midfield, changing it up completely is probably unlike Howe, but Longstaff, Miley and Willock all missed out on Wednesday in Joelinton's absence due to the back five and it feels important we protect both Bruno and Tonali.
In attack, Almiron's sale and Barnes' continued absence through injury means we're light on options, but it sounds like Wilson will start and it's also a big chance for Osula to impress after his brilliant strike against Bromley. Howe has hinted previously that he can play down the right, and he may be our only option if Murphy is given a rest.
Match prediction
This could turn into a tough scrap against a Birmingham side who are flying at the top of League One and in superb form at home.
But, if we turn up with the right attitude and quickly refocus after the high of booking our place at Wembley on Wednesday night, I think we'll get the job done.
It's a potential banana skin, however, so hopefully some of our fringe players can take their opportunity and get the job done as they did against Bromley last month.
Prediction: Birmingham 1-2 Newcastle
Howay the lads!
