Newcastle United return to St James’ Park on Tuesday night for the second leg of their Champions League knockout phase playoff against Qarabag FK in a formality-match before knowing their Round of 16 opponent.
Newcastle hold a 6-1 aggregate lead after last week’s first leg in Baku, where Anthony Gordon scored four goals and Malick Thiaw and Jacob Murphy also found the net. The result leaves Eddie Howe’s side in a strong position to progress to the last 16, where they will face either Chelsea or Barcelona.
Despite the advantage, Newcastle were beaten 2-1 by Manchester City in the Premier League at the weekend without barely making any changes to their XI, which clearly showed the real talent of the lads when it comes to facing actual, strong competition.
The Magpies’ recent home form has been inconsistent, with three defeats in their last four matches at St James’ Park in all competitions, but that shouldn’t stop the Geordies from stomping Qarabag once again.
Qarabag have conceded six goals in consecutive Champions League matches and have never beaten an English club in European competition, which tells you all you need to know about what’s coming.
For NUFC, Thiaw is suspended after collecting his third yellow card of the competition last week. Bruno Guimaraes, Emil Krafth, Fabian Schar, Tino Livramento and Lewis Miley remain unavailable, while Sven Botman and Yoane Wissa will be game-time decisions.
Here are some of Howe’s Wisdom Nuggets, courtesy of NUFC.co.uk
On his team selection for Tuesday’s game…
“We’ll look at the squad and try to pick a strong team. We want to win the game, that’s the first target. In some senses we want to keep a good rhythm with the players.
“It’s a delicate balance between rotating the squad and making sure everyone’s fresh and also making sure players don’t lose rhythm and we don’t lose the good feeling we’ve had.”
On Botman and Wissa’s fitness…
“We hope they’ll be involved. We’ll see how they are when they wake up tomorrow, but fingers crossed they will be.”
On the club’s Champions League exploits so far this term…
“There have been some great performances in the Champions League, and we’ve sort of saved our best for the competition.
“A lot was made of the result against Qarabağ in the first leg but for me it was the performance and the manner and the hunger we showed. That’s the level I want us to try and attain, or as close as we can, as often as possible.”
On the prospect of reaching the last 16…
“It’s something we spoke about before the competition started – that was our initial target, we wanted to reach the last-16. Then when you’re at that point anything can happen.
“We back ourselves in cup ties and one-off games, that seems to have brought out the best of the squad this year. As much as that’s the target, we’ve still got to win tomorrow’s game and that’s what we’ll focus on.”
On the mood in the United camp after a run of three wins from their last four outings…
“The atmosphere around the squad has been really strong in the last few weeks. It’s been a really good response to a difficult period for us.
“We’re ready for tomorrow’s game.”
Howay!
- Date: Tuesday, February 24th
- Kick-off: 20:00 BST / 15:00 EST
- Location: St. James’ Park, Newcastle (England)
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