MY ACCOUNT
– Newcastle have kept six straight clean sheets at home
– Leicester were beaten 3-0 by the Magpies when they met on Boxing Day
– Recommended bet: Newcastle to win to zero
Newcastle have the chance to quickly get Saturday’s shock FA Cup exit at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday out of their system when they aim for a Carabao Cup semi-final place at the expense of Leicester on Tuesday.
The Magpies were among the Premier League sides dumped out of the FA Cup at the third-round stage over the weekend when they were beaten by the League One side, but they now shift focus to the other domestic cup with a place in the last four up for grabs.
The Foxes were narrow 1-0 winners over Gillingham on Saturday and will be out to make amends for a recent 3-0 defeat to Newcastle in the league when the two sides meet at St James’ Park.
Team news
First-choice goalkeeper Nick Pope is set to return for Newcastle after Martin Dubravka lined up at Hillsborough, while Kieran Trippier, Miguel Almiron and Bruno Guimaraes should all also be back in the starting XI.
Allan Saint-Maximin is a doubt due to illness and Jonjo Shelvey remains out with a calf injury for the hosts.
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers says he will select from the same squad of players that travelled to Gillingham with their lengthy injury list not easing for the trip to the north east.
James Maddison remains out with his knee injury, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has a glute issue and Dennis Praet is missing due to a combination of rib and hip injuries.
Patson Daka and Boubakary Soumare (both hamstring), Jonny Evans (calf), James Justin and Ricardo Pereira (both Achilles) and Ryan Bertrand (knee) are all also still unavailable.
The stats
Newcastle are third in the Premier League table, 10 places and 18 points better off than Leicester.
Eddie Howe’s side are attempting to make it into the semi-finals of the League Cup for the first time since 1976 and they remain in the hunt to win their first major trophy since the Fairs Cup in 1969.
The Magpies have beaten Tranmere 2-1 away, Crystal Palace at home on penalties and Bournemouth, also at home, 1-0 to progress to this stage.
The Foxes, who last won the League Cup in 2000, knocked out Stockport County away on penalties, before 3-0 wins over Newport County (home) and MK Dons (away) to get to the quarter-finals.
Prediction
Newcastle’s defeat to the Owls at the weekend was only their second across the whole campaign to date in all competitions and they will be confident of seeing off a Leicester side that has been inconsistent this term.
The recent 3-0 league win over Rodgers’ men at the King Power Stadium underlines Newcastle’s current superiority and they will want to ensure a season of real promise is not hit by two cup exits in a week.
Leicester had a poor start to the season but then improved before the World Cup, winning five of their six matches in all competitions before the break to suggest they were moving in the right direction again.
However, since the restart, they have lost all three league games, scoring just one goal in the process, with their only wins coming over MK Dons in this competition and in the FA Cup at the weekend at Gillingham.
Overall, Newcastle are unbeaten in 11 games at St James’ Park this term, winning seven and drawing the other four. Of those wins, six have come without the opposition scoring and they also kept clean sheets in goalless home draws against Crystal Palace and Leeds.
Before the loss at Hillsborough, they had posted six clean sheets on the trot so a home win to zero, available at 11/8 with LiveScore Bet, appeals.
