Predicted Newcastle team v Birmingham – FA Cup fourth round | OneFootball

Looking at the Newcastle team v Birmingham.

Eddie Howe and his players hoping for further cup success.

Having on Wednesday night completed a stunning 4-0 aggregate thrashing of Mikel Arteta and Arsenal.

Now it is the FA Cup that is centre stage less than 72 hours later.

So, what can we expect the Newcastle team v Birmingham to be?

As a starting point, this was the Newcastle team v Arsenal:

Dubravka, Trippier, Schar, Burn, Botman, Hall, Tonali, Bruno, Murphy, Isak, Gordon

On Friday morning, Eddie Howe gave us some pointers as to fitness, availability and team selection.

The Head Coach said that Joelinton was now out for a few weeks, appearing to indicate he should be back at the beginning of March.

Whilst on Sven Botman who was subbed off late during Wednesday’s match; “Sven is not available for this weekend. He has taken a knock to his knee [the opposite one to his ACL injury]. We don’t believe it is serious but enough to keep him out of the Birmingham game.”

However, Eddie Howe also had this to say on squad rotation and looking after players to prevent unnecessary risk of injury:

“We will have to make changes, it would be a difficult ask for those players to go again, physically and mentally. We don’t have a huge squad in terms of depth, we will give opportunities to other players, but they will have to take their chance.

“We will use the game to share the load. The guys that come in need to grab that opportunity.”

So we now know that Joelinton, Sven Botman, Harvey Barnes and Jamaal Lascelles will definitely be missing from Saturday’s matchday squad. The question is, who else will Eddie Howe leave out?

Anyway, my take on all of this, my best guesstimate of the Newcastle team v Birmingham:

Pope, Livramento, Krafth, Burn, Targett, Tonali, Longstaff, Miley, Willock, Murphy, Osula

If this did end up as the starting eleven, then it would be eight changes, with only Murphy, Tonali and Burn starting again.

Interesting to look back and after the Arsenal semi-final first leg, this was the Newcastle team v Bromley the following weekend: Dubravka, Trippier, Schar, Kelly, Targett, Longstaff, Miley, Joelinton, Barnes, Almiron, Osula

A little more difficult this time for Eddie Howe when it comes to making numerous changes, with squad players Almiron and Kelly now gone, whilst Barnes is injured. Plus, there were five days between Arsenal and Bromley, this time less than 72 hours for the Birmingham match kicking off after that SJP victory over Arsenal.

Great to see Callum Wilson back, when coming off the bench on Wednesday in the 87th minute. However, difficult to think he is in a position to start just yet.

In the Bromley match, Eddie Howe said afterwards that it had always been his intention to play Joelinton first half and then replace him with Bruno for the second. We could see a bit of that again today, maybe Tonali and Bruno a half each, same with Murphy and Gordon possibly.

Newcastle United upcoming matches:

Saturday 8 February – Birmingham v Newcastle (5.45pm) BBC1 and BBC iPlayer (FA Cup)

Saturday 15 February – Man City v Newcastle (3pm)

Sunday 23 February – Newcastle v Forest (2pm) Sky Sports

Wednesday 26 February – Liverpool v Newcastle (8.15pm) TNT Sports

(Weekend of Saturday 1 March –  NUFC will play in FA Cup fifth round if getting past Birmingham)

Monday 10 March – West Ham v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports