Newcastle United are back in action at St James’ Park tonight, starting the Carabao Cup defence against League One leaders Bradford City.
Eddie Howe has vowed to pick a “strong team”, focusing all of our attention on making it through to the last 16 of the cup before we consider Sunday’s Premier League clash with Arsenal.
However, tonight will almost certainly feature a mixture of first team stars and fringe players eager to impress, meaning the following five could be handed rare opportunities to impress come 7.45pm:
Aaron Ramsdale (GK) – Yet to appear this season and will want minutes after arriving on loan with an option to buy. Impressed in the pre-season meeting with Espanyol, saving a penalty and showing his ability to play out from the back, and should come in for Nick Pope tonight.
Jamaal Lascelles (CB) – Made his first competitive appearance for 540 days at Bournemouth to help us see out the game. Howe has praised the centre-back’s professionalism and could reward his patience with a rare start here, especially now Fabian Schar has been ruled out of both games this week.
Emil Krafth (RB/CB) – The Swede rarely lets us down and can play at right-back or centre-back, giving Howe a few options if he plans to save Kieran Trippier or Malick Thiaw for Arsenal on Sunday. Krafth hasn’t played a minute yet this season and will be hoping for minutes here.
Alex Murphy (CB/LB) – Less likely to start than the other four I’ve picked out, but did well over pre-season, hasn’t gone out on loan and did not feature for the Under-21s on Monday, suggesting the 21-year-old Irishman should be in the squad tonight.
Will Osula (ST) – An obvious pick given Nick Woltemade will be saved for Sunday and Yoane Wissa remains out. Osula has done well in the cups and will be hoping to do so again here, aiming to improve on his last start in that 0-0 draw away to Leeds.
Seung-soo Park may have been in contention to feature, but it’s unclear if he’ll be available after a recent post on Instagram suggested he is currently nursing a knee injury.
With all of that said, I can also see Lewis Hall, Lewis Miley and Joe Willock starting again in a game that could be ideal for building match sharpness and confidence after a tough game at Bournemouth on Sunday.
In attack, Anthony Gordon needs minutes after returning from a three-game ban and Anthony Elanga could be handed a chance to impress on the right, with Jacob Murphy and Nick Woltemade likely to be saved for Arsenal.
