Luke O'Nien issues six-word Newcastle United challenge after FA Cup winplaceholder image
Luke O'Nien issues six-word Newcastle United challenge after FA Cup win | Getty Images
Newcastle United latest news: Eddie Howe’s side will find out their FA Cup Fifth Round opponents tonight.
The Magpies recorded a very good win at Villa Park, against the odds and a plethora of decisions that went against them in the midlands, to ensure a third-successive spot in the last-16 of the FA Cup. Sandro Tonali’s two strikes, albeit one that took a massive deflection off Douglas Luiz, and a goal from Nick Woltemade sealed the win for Eddie Howe’s side who have now beaten two Premier League clubs in this season’s FA Cup.
Sunderland, meanwhile, defeated Oxford United courtesy of a Habib Diarra penalty at the Kassam Stadium. That win ensured that both Newcastle United and Sunderland would be in the Fifth Round Draw which takes place tonight at Macclesfield’s Leasing.com Stadium.
Both clubs will be desperate to be drawn at home and, if possible, avoid being handed another top-flight team. But would another Tyne-Wear derby be an appealing fixture?
Newcastle United were beaten by their local rivals at the Stadium of Light in December and will be out for revenge when they meet at St James’ Park on Sunday 22 March. However, the FA Cup offers the possibility that the two clubs will meet a fortnight before their scheduled league game.
That question, on whether Sunderland wanted to face Newcastle United in the Fifth Round, was put to Luke O’Nien by TNT Sports following the Black Cats’ win at the Kassam Stadium. He confidently responded: “We’ll take anyone. Bring them on.”
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Newcastle United famously defeated Sunderland in the last cup meeting between the sides back in 2024. A 3-0 win on Wearside was secured after a Dan Ballard own goal and a brace from Alexander Isak in the first meeting between the clubs in any competition in just-shy of eight-years at that point.
Eddie Howe reacts to Newcastle United win v Aston Villa
The performance of the match officials at Villa Park was at the centre of much discussion following Saturday evening’s game, with the Magpies having a number of big decisions going against them throughout the 90 minutes. Speaking about those decisions post-match, Howe said: “Yeah, that was certainly a tough first half for us.
“Obviously we got the benefit of replays on the bench and you can see what's right and what's wrong and we felt really agreed in that first period that every decision seemed like it was going against us.
“The officials don't make any decision on purpose, is what they think at the time, but without VAR I thought there was a lot of errors today.
“Once the decision is made and it seems like there was no way back, there's nothing you can do. You've got to move on quite quickly, although all through that half, it seemed like I was debating a referee decision. That's not me, I don't do that.
“But I felt that there were so many [decisions] going against us.”
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