Eddie Howe has vowed to name a “full strength” side for tomorrow’s Carabao Cup quarter-final at St James’ Park.
After making eight changes for Saturday’s FA Cup defeat to Sheffield Wednesday and explaining why rotation was necessary following a ‘congested’ period of fixtures, the boss has talked up the “huge importance” of Tuesday night’s meeting with Leicester City.
He’s confirmed that Callum Wilson will be back, hinting Nick Pope and Fabian Schar should also return after all three were given rests over the weekend.
Allan Saint-Maximin’s availability remains up in the air, with Howe revealing that he’ll “wait and see” if the Frenchman is well enough to feature after a period of illness.
Speaking to the press ahead of tomorrow’s tie on Tyneside, here’s what the gaffer had to say:
“Allan, I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see.
“Callum, I expect to be back. Fingers crossed, Nick Pope and Fabian Schar will also be back.
“We’ll be going full strength to win the match. The fact it’s earlier in the season you have a better chance of playing your stronger team.
“Saturday’s game, the timing, was difficult because of Tuesday’s upcoming game. It was a very quick turnaround on the back of a congested league period.
“But the Carabao Cup, in the latter stages, now takes on huge importance.”
After missed chances and the absence of several key players cost us dearly at Hillsborough, let’s hope we can get back to winning ways when the Foxes come to town tomorrow night.
Love the way Howe makes a point of telling us that he’ll be fielding a decent team in an effort to try to win the match against Leicester..
Kinda makes you wonder what he was doing against Wednesday.
Daveys **** mate(Quote)
Wasn’t it obvious? If he plays a full strength team at SWFC he risks injuries and more fatigue for our biggest game of the season to date.
Also, SWFC felt like a good time to see if certain players were up to it, given we’ve just entered January.
It came at a cost, but reminded us that Lewis/Wood/Lascelles are levels below first-team stars. Maybe showed that Anderson needs a loan, too?
Olly Hawkins(Quote)