**Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur meet under the lights at St James' Park tonight at 8 pm in the Carabao Cup live on ITV and Sky Sports, with the draw to follow shortly after full-time.**
As expected, Eddie Howe has made several changes to the side that beat Fulham on Saturday.
We thought there'd be many changes by Howe to give his backup players some much-needed game time to keep them sharp, and while there were plenty, they weren't all the ones we predicted.
Aaron Ramsdale has replaced Nick Pope between the sticks, as he did in the previous round of the competition
We weren't too far off
Nick Woltemade will lead the line again tonight
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Malick Thiaw keeps his place in the side, and he'll be alongside Fabian Schar in the middle of defence as captain for the night Dan Burn keeps his place at left back with Emil Krafth on the right.
In the middle of the park, we had expected Jacob Ramsey to replace Joelinton, and that is indeed the case. Sandro Tonali also starts after recovering from his illness, while Joe Willock is brought into the starting XI over Lewis Miley.
Up front, Nick Woltemade is preferred to Will Osula, which is probably the big surprise, while Harvey Barnes and Anthony Elanga start on the flanks as expected.
Joe Willock starting is a concern
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Overall, it's a decent side with plenty of talent, although we can't say we're overly excited by Joe Willock's starting. Hopefully, he can repay this crazy faith Eddie Howe has in him tonight.
The bench is very strong with the likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Kieran Trippier, Sven Botman and Anthony Gordon waiting to come on if needed.
Spurs are keeping their team secret for now, it seems, with their official X page not showing their team selection at the time of writing. But we're not here for them, it's all about us!