Eddie Howe has spoken before Newcastle United take on Manchester City.
NUFC are looking forward to a third Carabao Cup semi-final in four seasons.
The first leg kicks off at St James’ Park on Tuesday evening at 8pm.
Eddie Howe and his team want to make it five wins in a row, after victories over Burnley, Palace, Leeds and Bournemouth.
It would of course also be a third cup final at Wembley in four years if United can get past Man City.
Eddie Howe spoke at his pre-match press conference at Newcastle United ahead of the clash with Manchester City at St James’ Park:
“We have to use the home crowd to impose ourselves on the match and give everything. This will be a tough challenge.”
“Manchester City is a very difficult team to prepare for because they are always changing and tinkering a lot with the tactical setup they have, and there are a few players missing.
“The priority is always on ourselves and what we do, and how we can hurt them.
“We have to give the best of ourselves.”
Eddie Howe on Harvey Barnes and Anthony Gordon:
“Harvey is in top form, red hot in front of goal. The goals he scores are also of different types, so that’s good to see.”
“I am also very happy with Anthony’s contribution, it was his cross [against Bournemouth] for Harvey’s header and his pass for Sandro Tonali to win the penalty.
“It’s good to see the wingers being productive and that was something we perhaps missed at the start of the season.
“With Jacob Murphy and Anthony Elanga hopefully not far away, our firepower in the wide areas is coming to full strength.”
At his press conference, Eddie Howe also said Elanga and Murphy would train on Monday, with the hope that they can both return to the matchday squad on Tuesday evening. The Head Coach added that Dan Burn is hopefully just a few weeks away from doing the same.
Eddie Howe on team selection in general during this very busy competition period:
“I will have discussions with the medical team and the performance team, physical and energy levels are of the utmost importance for this match. We will have to make decisions based on that.”
“This is a huge challenge. Some players have just played 120 minutes and are asked to go again a few days later, but I would like to think that, physically and mentally, we will be ready to go again at kick-off.”
Eddie Howe on Tino Livramento’s injury that the defender sustained against Bournemouth on Saturday:
“No major update, he will have a scan today to understand the extent of the damage to his hamstring.”
Eddie Howe on Emil Krafth:
“He’s a big miss for us at the moment and he’s trying to come back from a knee problem and he’s not feeling absolutely at his best at the moment.
“I don’t have a definitive return day for him, we are taking it day by day and we will see him again soon.
“He has always been such a reliable performer for us, he offers the versatility in different positions and we are keen to have him come back.”
Eddie Howe on Alex Murphy:
“Alex works hard, he has worked very intensively on his game. We have tried to develop him in training.”
“He did well against Fulham in the Carabao Cup [when coming off the bench].
“We will use him at the right time for us and him. He is an important player now. We have major injuries in our backline, any player who can come on is an important player.”
In the previous two Carabao Cup semi-finals, Newcastle played at home in the second leg, but this time it is the home game against Man City first:
“I think the natural preference is for the home game to be the second game because you clearly understand what we have to do and then have the home crowd with you.
“It’s not like that for us this time, so we have to use the home crowd to our advantage in the first game and try to give everything to impose ourselves on them in this home game.
“Last year we really enjoyed the two-legged format and even the gap between games was good because you could detach yourself from the result, this year it’s very similar.
“This will be a tough challenge because they are the toughest team in this country to play over two games.”
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