Eddie Howe will make at least one change to his Newcastle United starting XI to face West Ham United this evening (kick-off 5:30pm).
The Magpies are without key midfielder Bruno Guimaraes for the next three games following his red card in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final win over Southampton.
“We’re going to miss him massively,” said Howe. “I think he’s a huge player who has done ever so well for us. Whenever you lose one player, you have to re-adjust and it’ll be an opportunity now for the team to regroup and find another way.
“The timing of it is really difficult. We had a really intense period of games and now we don’t. Bruno seems to miss a long period of time away but the good thing for him is he’ll be available for the final. We have three huge Premier League games ahead of us.”
So, who will come in for the Brazilian? Well, with Joelinton expected to move back into the three-man midfield, Allan Saint-Maximin, Jacob Murphy and new signing Anthony Gordon come into contention.
Here’s the Magpies starting line-up we’re predicting Howe to name:
1. GK: Nick Pope
Conceded for the first time since November against Southampton but a clean sheet today would be his seventh in a row in the Premier League. Photo: Gareth Copley
2. RB: Kieran Trippier
Trippier is set to captain Newcastle at Wembley in a few weeks but first, he and United have three Premier League games.
3. CB: Fabian Schar
Newcastle are yet to clean a game which Schar has started this campaign. We say it time and time again, but the Swiss defender really is an unsung hero. Photo: Stu Forster
4. CB: Sven Botman
Summer signing Botman has formed an incredible centre-back partnership with Schar - statistically the best in the division. Photo: PAUL ELLIS