Due to a disappointing defeat to Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup, Sky Sports’ Keith Downie has revealed that Newcastle will now have a free weekend between our semi-final legs in the Carabao Cup.
Nobody wants to lose in the FA Cup, especially given our recent record, but one positive from an early exit means we will have less fixtures to deal with in the second-half of the season and more time to prepare for a huge cup tie.
As we head into our first League Cup semi-final for 47 years, both Man United and Man City – who remain in the competition – will have to deal with an FA Cup fixture in the middle of the two legs, providing Guardiola’s men beat Southampton in tonight’s quarter-final.
The first leg is to be scheduled in the week commencing January 23, while the second leg will be scheduled the week commencing January 30 with the FA Cup being played on January 28/29.
The likes of Man City and Man Utd have much bigger squad depth than us, this would be one big advantage we have over either side should we draw them in the semi-final.
