Newcastle v Fulham: All eyes on Guimaraes and Wilson at St James’
After ending their 70-year wait for a domestic trophy by beating Liverpool in last year’s final, Newcastle are in a great position to win the Carabao Cup again.
Home wins over Bradford (4-1) and Spurs (2-0) have the Toon Army dreaming of Wembley once more and fortune seems to be favouring Newcastle after they avoided Arsenal and Manchester City in the quarter-final draw and secured a third straight tie at St James’ Park.
After their lacklustre display in the 1-0 defeat to local rivals Sunderland at the weekend, Eddie Howe will want a big response from his team.
But Fulham could be a dangerous side to run into.
They’ve won their last two away games – 2-1 at Tottenham and 3-2 at Burnley – and also put four past Manchester City in a thrilling 5-4 defeat.
The Cottagers have reached the quarter-final stage in rather low-key fashion.
They beat Championship side Bristol City 2-0, edged out League Two Cambridge 1-0 at Craven Cottage and then beat League One Wycombe 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Adams Park.
How to watch Newcastle v Fulham
Newcastle v Fulham kicks off at 20.15 GMT on Wednesday, December 17 at St James’ Park.
The game will be shown live on ITV 1, STV, Sky Sports Premier League & ITVX, with coverage starting from 7pm.
TalkSPORT 2 will provide full match commentary.
Newcastle team news
As well as being beaten by Sunderland, Newcastle suffered the added blow of losing Dan Burn to injury. The big defender could be out for six weeks due to a broken rib and punctured lung.
Kieran Trippier, Sven Botman and Emil Krafth are all unlikely to feature so Newcastle don’t have many options at the back.
Aaron Ramsdale should again stand in for Nick Pope in goal while it may be too early to give fit-again Yoane Wissa a start just yet following the summer signing’s lengthy absence.
Expect Howe to go strong as the Magpies seek to land more silverware.
Newcastle expected line-up
(4-3-3) Ramsdale; Livramento, Schar, Thiaw, Hall; Miley, Guimaraes, Joelinton; Murphy, Woltemade, Barnes.
Fulham team news
Fulham boss Marco Silva has his options reduced after losing Alex Iwobi, Calvin Bassey and Samuel Chukwueze to the Africa Cup of Nations.
In addition, left-back Ryan Sessegnon and striker Rodrigo Muniz miss out through injury.
Silva has gone for experience in his Carabao Cup line-ups so far and expect the same again as Fulham look to atone for the last-minute 2-1 loss at St James’ Park earlier in the season.
Fulham expected line-up
(4-2-3-1) Leno; Tete, Andersen, Cuenca, Castagne; Berge, Lukic; Wilson, King, Smith-Rowe; Jimenez.
Newcastle v Fulham stats
– Newcastle have won seven of their last nine meetings with Fulham in all competitions (L2).
– This is the first League Cup meeting between Newcastle and Fulham since the 1981-82 second round, with then third tier Fulham eliminating second tier Magpies 4-1 on aggregate (2-1 away, 2-0 home).
– Holders Newcastle are looking to reach the semi-finals of the League Cup for the third time in the last four seasons, and for the first time ever in consecutive campaigns.
– Fulham have been eliminated from five of their six League Cup quarter-final ties, though the exception was a victory on penalties over Everton in their last appearance at this stage (2023-24).
– Newcastle haven’t fallen behind in any of their last 12 League Cup matches, last trailing in the competition in their 2-0 final defeat to Manchester United in 2023.
– Fulham have alternated between being eliminated (3) and progressing from (2) each of their five League Cup ties against the holders of the competition, most recently going out to Man City in 2018-19.
– Jacob Murphy has either scored (2) or assisted (1) a goal in each of his last three appearances against Fulham, opening the scoring for Newcastle in their 2-1 Premier League win earlier this season.
– Fulham have the oldest average starting XI in the League Cup this season (29y 109d).
Newcastle v Fulham predictions
Newcastle’s grip on the trophy could have been under serious threat had Fulham been drawn at home and this tie played a week earlier.
But fate looks to have given the holders a leg up as the game takes place at St James’ Park and Fulham have lost key men to AFCON duty.
A reminder of Newcastle’s home form. Since they lost 2-1 against Premier League leaders Arsenal after conceding at the death, their St James’ Park record reads: WWWWWDW.
And it could so easily have been seven straight wins but for the Magpies conceding a last-minute overhead kick from Tottenham’s Cristian Romero at the start of the month.
Fulham can snatch a goal here but Howe’s men should have enough to prevail so back Newcastle to win and both teams to score at 12/5.
The Magpies have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last eight games and have conceded in each of their last three wins so it makes sense.
For an adventurous goalscorer double, back Bruno Guimaraes and Harry Wilson both to net anytime.
Guimaraes has netted four times in his last eight home games while Wilson has four in seven for Fulham and also netted a hat-trick for Wales during that run.
The double pays a mouthwatering 33/1.
