Newcastle vs. Southampton

Time for the Magpies to punch a bunch of League Cup final tickets for the first time in decades!

The last time stakes were so high you probably had not even been born yet. Well, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but you get what I’m trying to convey.

There was an FA Cup semi-final match played between Newcastle and Arsenal back in 2005. That would be it for the Magpies, following a change in the format of the competition in 1999 calling for one-leg clashes in the second-to-last round of the FA Cup.

There have been multiple quarter-final matchups in Newcastle’s recent history, both in the FA Cup and the League Cup, but semi-finals are a beast of an entirely different type that this organization has not met for decades on end.

Just a couple of years ago, NUFC already reached the third-to-last round in the Carabao Cup. One year before that one, they did so in the FA Cup. When Newcastle championed in the English second division back in the spring of 2017, they also reached the QF of the League Cup. No luck.

You have to go all the way back to 1976 to find a Football League Cup Final featuring Newcastle United in it. On the other side of the pitch on that day, Feb. 28, 1976, were the lads from Manchester—City, that was, believe it or not.

Far from the Guardiolas and the Hallands of our days, those years had Man City boasting two goalscorers going by the names of Peter Simon Barnes and Dennis Tueart. Don’t feel bad if this is the first time you hear about them. I get paid for writing about soccer and I hadn’t, either.

Newcastle’s finished that fateful day down 1-2 playing in front of 100,000 mad fans crammed into the relic-but-now-demolished Wembley Stadium. No luck.

Things are about to change. Or that should be the case on this very bright day, Jan. 1, 2023, more than 45 years to the day this happened for the last time in the history of Newcastle.

After beating Soton 1-0 on the road, the Magpies return to the comfortable and stiff pastures of St James’ Park tonight. Harrison Ashby will attend the game. So will Anthony Gordon. So will all of Newcastle, what the hell. Live on location or watching from home, from the pub, paying for the rights to witness history, or stealing their friends’ DAZN account just to peep at history. Can’t miss it.

Southampton is coming off a victory against Blackpool in the FA Cup. Yes, that little domestic competition that Newcastle were kicked off of by a bunch of minnows. Whatever. The Saints are also the Premier League bottom dwellers, so you gotta look at the bright side of things, don’t you?

You know what happened the last time Soton and Castle met. You might not know what happened before that clash, but we do. I’d be fine with either another 1-0 or 4-1. Up to you lads to pick one of those results and put on a replay tonight. I, personally, won’t be complaining too much.

Eddie Howe spoke to the media on Monday providing some fresh takes on Newcastle’s state of affairs just hours before today’s game.

You can read everything Howe had to say here, as part of our pre-match coverage.

WhoScored.com predictions at the upcoming Starting XIs from the Magpies and the Saints are in, so let’s go through what could be coming from Newcastle’s Eddie Howe.

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Credit: https://cominghomenewcastle.sbnation.com/2023/1/31/23577536/newcastle-vs-southampton-preview-lineups-talking-points