Welcome to the Newcastle v Fulham preview.
Wednesday 17th December and an 8.15pm kick-off.
Newcastle United have the opportunity to make their third League Cup semi-final in just four seasons this Wednesday night, when welcoming Fulham to St James’ Park.
As defending champions, the onus will be on the Toon to perpetuate our brilliant form in this competition.
Fulham have already been put to the sword once at St James’ this season when an injury time strike from Bruno sealed a 2-1 victory, after an early Murphy goal had been cancelled out.
This match will be broadcast live on both ITV and Sky Sports, if the scores are level at full-time it will go straight to a penalty shootout.
Hopefully the Toon will be in the draw for the semi-final that takes place after our match finishes.
Form
The Toon have beaten Bradford City and Tottenham Hotspur (both at home) to reach this stage. Bradford were comfortably dispatched 4-1 with braces from Joelinton and Osula, whereas Spurs were seen off in a 2-0 victory courtesy of headed goals from Schar and Woltemade.
Fulham have beaten Bristol City, Cambridge United and Liverpool so far to make the quarter-final. They’re yet to concede having beaten Bristol City 2-0 and Cambridge United 1-0, before the highlight of their campaign came in a 3-0 hammering of Liverpool.
Last time out
Let’s not dwell on this one, Newcastle suffered a simply appalling 1-0 defeat away at arch-rivals Sunderland. An atrocious match of football was settled by a somewhat bizarre own goal when Woltemade buried a header past Ramsdale to gift the Mackems three points. We never looked like scoring in one of our worst ever Premier League derby displays.
Fulham went away to Burnley on Saturday and came away with a very credible 3-2 win. They took an early lead but were pegged back soon after. Despite this, they scored two more to go 3-1 up before Burnley scored a late consolation. This was a fine win for Fulham and helped ease some of their relegation fears after a difficult start to the season.
Stat attack!
-The Toon have only won three league cup quarter-finals in their history but two of those have come in the last three seasons.
-NUFC have been drawn at home in a League Cup quarter-final on four previous occasions, winning three.
-Newcastle have won seven of their last ten meetings with Fulham in all competitions.
Memorable match
Newcastle hosted Fulham in January 2004, knowing that a win would keep alive hopes of a top-four finish. The match was only five minutes old when Andy O’Brien turned in the box at the Leazes End to put United ahead and things were to get even better when Gary Speed buried a header from a Solano corner to double our advantage before half-time. The points were wrapped up at the start of the second half by an outrageous Robert goal that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough. If Cantona, Zola or Bergkamp had done what Robert did then it, quite rightly, would have gone down as one of the all-time greatest Premier League goals. Solano chipped the ball into the danger zone and our Frenchman jumped to meet it, twisted midair and scored off his heel from a reverse overhead kick. I’ve never seen anything like it before or since. Three goals to the good, Newcastle sat back and conceded a late consolation but this was a well-deserved win and a great start to the year. Newcastle 3-1 Fulham.
Played for both
Alain Goma signed for Ruud Gullit in 1999 but soon found himself managed by Sir Bobby. He spent two years at Newcastle without many highlights. His one goal was an impressive header in a 3-1 win away at Middlesbrough. He signed for Fulham in 2001 and spent five years with the cottagers, helping them gain promotion to the Premier League.
Danny Guthrie signed for the Toon in 2008 and spent four years on Tyneside, enduring the low of relegation in 2009 to the high of a top five Premier League finish in 2012. He was an integral part of our promotion in 2010, netting five goals and providing thirteen assists as we won the championship. He played for Fulham on loan in 2015 but failed to find the net in six league appearances.
Aleksandar Mitrovic joined NUFC in 2015 and managed to get himself booked just a few seconds into his debut. Despite a fairly appalling disciplinary record, he managed to become something of a cult hero, scoring important goals. Including a volley in a 6-2 win at home to Norwich, an equaliser at home to the Mackems and a bullet header in a match with Tottenham, when he became only the sixth player in Premier League history to score, assist and be sent off in the same match. He spent three years at the Toon before signing for Fulham, where he scored ninety-seven league goals in a five year spell.
Managers
Eddie Howe after a 1-0 defeat away at the Mackems:
“That will sting for a long time. We know our performance was not what we needed it to be. Not defensively, we defended well. It was a game of few chances. Unfortunately, the one big moment goes against us, it was a bizarre moment but we weren’t good enough to open them up. I am disappointed for the supporters and sorry for our performance, for a lack of goalmouth action and clinical attacking. It certainly wasn’t a lack of effort. But the first sixty minutes I don’t think we posed a threat at all. It wasn’t the finest day for any of our front players. The openings were there, with a better decision or pass. The quality was not there in that phase of the game. The changes had a positive impact but we didn’t work their goalkeeper anywhere near enough. We didn’t sustain the pressure enough. Losing is a horrible feeling and this is painful.”
Marco Silva after a 3-2 win away at Burnley:
“It’s a difficult place to come. It doesn’t matter if they’re on a bad run. We know if you’re on a bad run how much you want to change it. We were smart, the way we started the game. The reaction from them was what we expected. Many chances for both sides – much more than I like to see. Some mistakes. Football is like that sometimes. First half we scored goals in important moments. We gave them many chances when we shouldn’t have. The three points were deserved from ourselves.”
Charity
Newcastle United fans food bank will once again be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end and gratefully receiving food, money and toiletries for those in need. Of particular interest are non-perishable food and drink items (such as noodles, pasta, rice, canned food, soup, cereal, cordial, long life milk etc) as well as toiletries such as shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste and sanitary products. Please give whatever you can, any donation is very much appreciated.
For further info and/or to donate online go to Newcastle Foodbank
Prediction
This is an absolutely golden chance to make another League Cup semi-final. Newcastle will be red hot favourites for this one, especially with home advantage. The performance and result at the weekend were both abysmal but there’s no time for a hangover, as we look to defend the title we won in such spectacular style in March. I think this will be a much closer match than most fans are anticipating but we will make the semi-final – just. Newcastle 1-1 Fulham (Toon to win on penalties).
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