Newcastle United begins its EFL Cup campaign against Championship side West Bromwich Albion at St James’ Park on August 26, with a place in the third round at stake.
Matthias Jaissle’s side enter the second-round tie following a 2-2 draw with Liverpool in their Premier League opener, with Joe Willock and Anthony Elanga scoring before Newcastle conceded a stoppage-time equalizer. The Magpies won the EFL Cup in 2024-25 and have reached at least the quarterfinals in each of the last four seasons. They
have also won four of their last six home meetings with West Brom.
Dan Burn is unavailable with ankle ligament damage, joining Joelinton, Tino Livramento, and Will Osula on the sidelines. Fabian Schar, Jacob Ramsey, Nick Woltemade, Jacob Murphy, Willock and new signings Ewan Jaouen and Bazoumana Toure are among the players expected to come into the starting lineup.
West Brom arrive after winning all three of their competitive matches this season. James Morrison’s side beat Norwich City and Burnley in the Championship and reached this stage with a 4-1 first-round win at Rotherham United. Jimmy-Jay Morgan has scored in all three games, while Mikey Johnston is a doubt because of an ankle problem.
Here are some of Jaissle’s Wisdom Nuggets, courtesy of NUFC.co.uk
On the importance of the Carabao Cup and potential squad rotation…
“First of all, it’s a big competition due to the history of the club. We are aware of that, and I’m looking forward already to playing that round.
“First, after an hour from the final whistle (against Liverpool), we get things sorted. We analyze the game. We see the availability of the players. There were now many players who were exhausted. Some of them have minor injuries.
“So we need to see who’s available, and then we meet together (Tuesday) and make that decision towards Wednesday.”
On bringing his previous cup success to Newcastle United…
“This magic touch in the cups would be nice.”
On whether footage of Newcastle’s previous trophy celebrations was needed as motivation…
“They tried to convince me with that footage. It was not needed. It was not needed.”
On trying to give Newcastle’s young players first-team opportunities…
“Yeah, as much as possible. I want to see the young lads, the young talents, because then you get a good feeling for how they develop, if they’re getting closer towards the first team and towards their first minutes, then also in the Premier League.
“But it’s also according to what happens now in the transfer market. Definitely, it’s always, you know, a bit of a balance that they train with us. But on the other hand, they also need to get game time to develop.
“So we need to be smart with the decision-making then, towards the end of the transfer window.”
On helping the players recover physically and mentally before the next game…
“Yeah, really pragmatic. (On Tuesday) we’ll meet early. They get a good breakfast, we have an analysis, they get a good lunch, then they can go home, rest, get a massage.
“There we have a top facility. You know, some of you were there, right? Just two days ago, or yesterday. When was it? So you saw that top facility where they can regenerate mentally and physically.
“This is the most important thing if you play again in such a short amount of time, and then we make a good decision prior to the match, who’s ready mentally and physically.”
Howay!
- Date: Wednesday, August 26th
- Kick-off: 21:45 BST / 14:45 EST
- Location: St. James’ Park, Newcastle (England)
For all your watching needs, check LiveSoccerTV.
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