Eddie Howe has been talking ahead of Newcastle United taking on Manchester City.
NUFC looking forward to a third Carabao Cup semi-final in four seasons.
The first leg is an 9pm kick-off at St James’ Park on Tuesday night.
Eddie Howe and his team looking to make it five wins in a row, having banked victories against Burnley, Palace, Leeds and Bournemouth.
It would also of course be a third cup final at Wembley in four years, if United can get past Man City.
Eddie Howe speaking at his Newcastle United pre-match press conference ahead of facing Manchester City at St James’ Park:
“We need to use the home crowd to help impose ourselves on the game and give everything. This is going to be a tough challenge.
“Manchester City are a very difficult team to prepare for, as they always change and tinker a lot with the tactical set-up that they have, plus they have a few players missing.
“The priority is always ourselves and what we do, how we can hurt them.
“We need to give the best account of ourselves.”
Eddie Howe on Harvey Barnes and Anthony Gordon:
“Harvey is in great form, red hot in front of goal. The goals that he is scoring are different types as well, so it is good to see.
“I am really pleased with Anthony’s contribution as well. It was his cross [against Bournemouth] for Harvey’s header and his pass for Sandro Tonali to win the penalty.
“It is good to see the wingers producing productivity and it was was something that we maybe missed early season.
“With Jacob Murphy and Anthony Elanga hopefully not far away, our firepower in the wide areas is getting up to full strength.”
At his press conference, Eddie Howe also said that Elanga and Murphy would train on Monday, with the hope that they can both return to the matchday squad on Tuesday night. The Head Coach adding that Dan Burn is hopefully just a couple of weeks away from doing the same.
Eddie Howe on team selection in general during this very busy period of matches:
“I will have discussions with the medical team and performance team, physical and energy levels are of the utmost importance for this game. We will have to make decisions based on that.
“This is a huge challenge, some players have just played 120 minutes and then a few days later are being asked to go again, but I’d like to think, physically and mentally, come kick-off we will be ready to go again.”
Eddie Howe on the Tino Livramento injury the defender suffered on Saturday against Bournemouth:
“No major update, he will be having a scan today to understand the extent of the damage on his hamstring.”
Eddie Howe on Emil Krafth:
“He is a big miss for us at the moment and he is trying to come back from a knee problem, he is not feeling absolutely at his best currently.
“I have got no definitive return day for him, we are taking it day by day and we will see him back quickly.
“He has always been such a reliable performer for us, he gives the versatility in different positions and we are desperate for him to be back.”
Eddie Howe on Alex Murphy:
“Alex is working hard, he has worked really intensely on his game. We have tried to develop him in training.
“He did well against Fulham in the Carabao Cup [when coming off the bench].
“We will use him at the right time for us and him. He is an important player now. We have big injuries to our backline, any player who can cover is an important player.”
The previous two Carabao Cup semi-finals saw Newcastle play at home in the second leg but this time it is the home leg against Man City first:
“I think the natural preference is for the home game to be the second leg, because you have a clear understanding of what we need to do, then have the home crowd with you.
“It is not like that for us this time, so we need to use the home crowd for our advantage in the first game, trying to give everything to impose ourselves on them in this home tie.
“We really enjoyed the two-legged format last year and even the gap between games was good, because you could detach yourself from the result, it is very similar this year.
“This is going to be a tough challenge as they are the hardest team to play over two legs in this country.”