Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his second
As Newcastle United travel to West Ham United in the Premier League, there will no loss of focus from Eddie Howe as he bids to keep the looming Carabao Cup final out of the minds of his players. To ensure he succeeds in doing so, there will be no fielding a weakened team in east London before the second visit to the capital six days later.
[Discussing the matter in recent days, Howe said](https:// https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/joelinton-fear-alexander-isak-protection-31151820): "It is an important game, our Premier League form is hugely important and we need to get back on track, we need to build momentum on winning and the best chance we have to win any cup is to go into that game (the final) feeling as good as we can.
"We will pick our strongest team, resting players doesn't come into my head and if you think resting a player for two weeks before a huge game is good for them, that is not the case, they need regular football to give them the best chance of being fit and also to perform."
Meanwhile, Sunday's final opponents Liverpool have had their own busy schedule to contend with in recent days - both at home and abroad. The Reds smashed and grabbed a first leg over Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital, beat basement boys Southampton at Anfield and will play host to their Champions League opponents later this week.
However, remarkably, there was no weakened side played by manager Arne Slot as Liverpool extended their lead at the Premier League summit on Saturday. This, despite both the poor calibre of opposition on display and the sheer magnitude of this coming week for the Merseyside outfit.
Top scorer Mohamed Salah, team captain Virgil van Dijk and midfield superstar Ryan Gravenberch have started all 29 of Liverpool's league games this season, while the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Darwin Nunez, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ibrahim Konate, Curtis Jones and Alisson also featured in the clearcut 3-1 win over Southampton.
This was a surprise to many but Slot, like Howe, clearly did not want to take his eye off the ball in the league. However, the Dutchman did admit to one regret over his team selection after the win.
"Today, if I could do it one more time over, I would have started it differently than I started today," he said. "But you don't know this in advance. Every time I am sitting here and talking about Dominik [Szoboszlai], I'm talking about he is a machine. He can keep on going, running and running and running.
"It was maybe the first time this season I saw a different energy from him, which is maybe normal. Maybe I made a mistake by playing him because he gives so much every single game."
Slot will undoubtedly go into this week's midweek tie with PSG and field an equally strong side as the English side bid to progress in Europe - something which would actually be good for the country's coefficient ranking and therefore also Newcastle's chances of qualifying for the Champions League next term.
But Slot's Szoboszlai comments in particular possibly hint at a touch of fatigue in the Anfield camp after such a gruelling season to date. The Newcastle faithful will be hoping that is the case.