Will Osula starts as Tino Livramento returns to squad - Newcastle United team news to take on Manchester City
Newcastle United and Manchester City are set to face off for the fifth time this season. This time in the FA Cup, live on TNT Sports. Kick-off is at 8pm.
Having met twice in the Premier League and twice in the Carabao Cup already this season, the two sides are very familiar with each other by now.
Although we'd be astonished if Pep Guardiola were able to predict and plan for this Newcastle United starting XI, because we certainly didn't see it coming.
Anthony Gordon and Joelinton begin this one on the bench in a big shakeup from the starting XI that faced Manchester United on Wednesday.
Anthony Gordon and Joelinton have been dropped to the bench
Will Osula's stunning 90th-minute winner against Man United has earned him a place in the starting lineup ahead of Anthony Gordon, and he will be supported by Anthony Elanga and Harvey Barnes. A huge call from Eddie Howe.
Even bigger is the call to replace Joelinton with Joe Willock in midfield. With Jacob Ramsey suspended, we expected that would be the only change to the midfield three, with Nick Woltemade coming back in. We're guessing it's just about managing Joelinton's minutes, but this feels like another big call that could make or break things for Howe tonight.
At the back, Sven Botman does replace Dan Burn as we expected, but it's the familiar look of Kieran Trippier, Malick Thiaw and Lewis Hall making up the back four in front of Aaron Ramsdale.
The starting lineup is concerning but there could be a plan afoot
Were it not for the huge calls to drop Gordon and Joelinton, the big news tonight would be the return of Tino Livramento to the squad.
Eddie Howe hinted that Tino would be back for this one, and it's good to see one of those predictions actually pan out for once. Whether he gets on the field remains to be seen.
I'm not convinced by the starting lineup, but it does give us some strong options from the bench, so as long as we're still in the game in the second half, we can totally do this.
HOWAY EDDIE HOWE'S CUP RUNNING MAGS!
