Newcastle v Nottingham Forest Carabao Cup tie picked for live broadcast - Can Tonali play?

Today brought confirmation of the date of Newcastle United's first Carabao Cup tie after being drawn away against fellow Premier League side Nottingham Forest.

The second-round ties are scheduled to be played on 27th and 28th August and depending on which date was assigned to the Newcastle v Forest fixture would potentially have a big bearing on Eddie Howe's team selection.

Sandro Tonali is set to serve the final day of his 10-month ban on 27th August, meaning that if Newcastle's fixture were to be played on that date, Tonali would be ineligible, but if the game was set for Wednesday, the Italian could potentially make his return to action against Nottingham Forest.

As confirmed via the Newcastle United website, the all-Premier League clash has been selected for live broadcast by Sky Sports.

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Sandro Tonali could make his return from suspension in the Carabao Cup

As a result of being selected for television, the game has been scheduled for Wednesday 28th August with a kick-off time of 8pm which means Sandro Tonali will be allowed to play.

Eddie Howe has spoken about Tonali's availability and whether or not the 24-year-old would be fit enough to jump straight into playing a match.

Howe said that they had been trying to get him as much match practice as possible over the summer with a couple of behind-closed-doors games and 11 v 11 in training, but admitted that those cannot compare to the real thing.

Tonali was set to return against Tottenham on 1st September

Tonali was originally set for a return in the weekend fixture against Tottenham Hotspur on 1st September, but may now return early to get some minutes before the Premier League game.

We expect Tonali will feature against Forest in some capacity. It's unlikely he'll play the full 90 minutes after having 10 months without being able to play a competitive game. There'll be plenty of rust to shake off and he'll be sorely lacking match sharpness.

It may take a while for Newcastle to see the best of Tonali, but now he has an extra game to get up to speed and that can't hurt at all.