Newcastle United defeat Bournemouth in FA Cup 3rd Round
Newcastle United v Manchester City team news: Eddie Howe is hopeful of having two returning players for the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg.
The Magpies are looking to retain the Carabao Cup but face a tough challenge against Pep Guardiola’s side, whom they have only beaten twice under Eddie Howe in 11 attempts.
Both Man City and Newcastle have several injury concerns heading into Tuesday’s match.
Pep Guardiola’s side are set to be without Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Oscar Bobb and Savinho due to injury while Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri are at the African Cup of Nations.
Newcastle are without Tino Livramento, Fabian Schar, Dan Burn, William Osula and Emil Krafth due to injury. Anthony Elanga and Jacob Murphy are doubts for the match and Jamaal Lascelles is also unavailable.
Schar would have missed the first leg of the semi-final regardless of his fitness due to suspension.
But ahead of the match, Eddie Howe provided an update on the fitness of his squad.
Eddie Howe delivers NUFC injury latest
Tino Livramento was forced off with a hamstring injury in the FA Cup win over Bournemouth on Saturday and is facing an extended spell on the sidelines. Prior to that, defender Fabian Schar was stretchered off in the 4-3 win over Leeds United and taken to hospital with an ankle injury.
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“No major update for you,” Howe explained on Livramento. “He will be having a [hamstring] scan I think today at some point and we'll understand the extent of the damage.”
On Schar, Howe added: “Yes, again, we'll have to wait and see. We need to know the full extent of the injury first and then we'll have to make decisions based in line with what we know on other injuries and timescales and returns.
“Yes, of course, the transfer window plays into that.”
But Newcastle could have two players return to the matchday squad on Tuesday night. Jacob Murphy missed Saturday’s match with a hamstring issue while Anthony Elanga has missed the last five matches with a knee problem.
“The two wingers have a possibility,” Howe claimed. “We'll see how they get on today. Dan [Burn] will be a couple of weeks further back.”
NUFC fitness concerns
Newcastle have just four fit senior defenders heading into one of their most important games of the season. Malick Thiaw has started each of the last 26 games for Newcastle and played 120 minutes on Saturday along with Sven Botman, who has only just returned from an injury absence.
Lewis Hall and Kieran Trippier have also had their injury issues so far this season, raising big questions regarding team selection for one of the biggest games of the campaign so far.
“I'll have discussions with the medical team, performance team, the players themselves because physical wellbeing and the energy levels I think are of utmost importance in this game,” Howe added. “It wasn't ideal, the 120 minutes. Certainly from our perspective, we knew this game was here but we wanted to get through.
“I think that was the priority and whatever it took, we had to do. And then we had to, the last couple of days, to look back and reflect and to then plan this game with hopefully a fresh team and one that can play how we want to play.”
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