Eddie Howe has highlighted what he expects from the Carabao Cup challenge against Man City.
The Toon are putting up a good fight to defend their title after defeating **Arsenal**and **Liverpool**in the last two rounds of the competition last campaign. Now, they are preparing to face the Citizens in the first leg at St. James’ Park, and the Newcastle United manager expects a complicated encounter.
“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.
“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.
“*Pep Guardiola*will tactically have something ready for us, and we will have to be at our very best to get through. They change and tinker a lot with the tactical set-up they have. They're a difficult team to read and know how to plan and prepare for."