Both Newcastle & Arsenal will rely on youth & experience to reach the Carling Cup quarter finals
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It looks like after every win you have to say oh, you are more mature than last year, but it is just one more game, lets not get carried away, now we have the [Carling Cup] game against Newcastle, which is the most important one at the moment. The time to talk about if we have matured or are better than before will be at the end of the season. Cesc Fabregas.
Two sides who produced excellent results in the last round of the Carling Cup face off at St James Park in one of the ties of the round for a place in the quarter-finals.
Newcastle fans will be eager to prove they can live with the big boys and a home tie against Arsenal could be the place to send their confidence soaring. The Gunners meanwhile are beginning to take this competition seriously and are second favourites behind Manchester United.
Without silverware for five years, Arsene Wenger appears to be finally taking the Carling Cup seriously. Last week at the Arsenal AGM he said: We will go for every single competition this season with all the possible resources we have, we will play a strong team at Newcastle. I am not saying Cesc will definitely play, because he is only just back from a hamstring injury and we have to be cautious.
Wenger put out a strong team at north London rivals Spurs in the last round and was duly rewarded with a 4-1 victory after extra time and we will likely see a mixture of first team squad regulars and promising youngsters at Newcastle.
Lukasz Fabianski will probably continue in goal following his recent good form and Laurent Koscielny should start in front of the Polish custodian after he was an unused substitute at Eastlands following a back problem. Other recent injury returnees Theo Walcott, Nicklas Bendtner and Cesc F! abregas will also all likely feature.
Jack Wilshere continues to serve his suspension for a straight red card in the Premier League win over Birmingham but other promising Arsenal youngsters, Henri Lansbury and Jay Emmanuel Thomas, should also be part of the squad.
Like Wenger, Chris Hughton is set to name a mixed team as he did for the incredible 4-3 win at Chelsea in the last round. The former Spurs defender described the Carling Cup last 16 tie as a big match and its a competition we want to stay in.
Hughton added that he will make changes but Newcastle face local rivals Sunderland on Sunday in the Premier League and after spending a season in the Championship that is one of the biggest fixtures of the campaign.
At Chelsea in the last round Shola Ameobi was the star of the show with a 90th minute winner and he is likely to deputise again for Andy Carroll who has been embroiled in off the field problems over the past few days. The likes of Peter Lovenkrands and Nile Ranger also featured and are likely to be involved again so captain Kevin Nolan is ready for the visit of the Mackems.
After their win at West Ham on Saturday Newcastle should be confident of securing another morale boosting victory. They will have to scrap and harry Arsenals composed passing game but with the support of the home crowd and a quarter-final spot up for grabs this could be close. Expect the Gunners to just have enough quality though.
101gg predicts: Newcastle 1 Arsenal 3
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