Newcastle United could be the choice of many neutrals when they take on Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final next month. Newcastle are bidding to end a 70-year wait for domestic silverware when they travel to Wembley on Sunday, March 16.

The Magpies hammered Arsenal 4-0 on aggregate across two legs to book their place in this year’s final, and if they can match that and beat Liverpool at Wembley, the club would claim their first domestic trophy since lifting the FA Cup in 1955.

Liverpool will go into the game as strong favourites. Arne Slot's side have been hugely impressive this season and hold a nine-point gap at the top of the Premier League, while they romped through their Champions League group stage also.

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Their hopes of a quadruple were ended at the weekend when Plymouth Argyle dumped them out of the FA Cup but they are odds on for a domestic double, and remain one of the favourites for the Champions League. In contrast, Newcastle's last piece of silverware was in 1969 with the Fairs Cup triumph.

It means that there will be a lot of support for Eddie Howe's men to stop the Reds machine. And one person in the Newcastle corner is former full-back Danny Simpson.

"Newcastle fans deserve a trophy," stressed Simpson, who played 138 times for the club from 2009-2013. "For me personally, having played for Newcastle, and being a Man United fan, well I’d love to see Newcastle beat Liverpool. We don’t want Liverpool winning everything do we?"

"I was really impressed with the team and how they played against Arsenal, I was impressed with their tactics and how they pressed them. It looks like the Newcastle players believe in it [the project], they believe in themselves and the manager.

"And they should believe, they should be getting to finals because Newcastle is a massive club, especially compared to a few years ago."

Newcastle reached the Carabao Cup final two years ago, but suffered agony with a 2-0 loss to Manchester United in the capital. It was a flat, disappointing performance by the Magpies on the big stage, with some players not reaching the levels they can achieve. But Simpson, who won promotion to the Premier League with the club in 2010 and who played three seasons in the top flight with the Magpies is confident that sobering experience will make the current team stronger for a second shot at honours.

"The players that were involved in that defeat in the final a couple of years ago, well they’ll have learn from that and going to play at Wembley will have done them a lot of good," added Simpson.

"It’s about the whole week before the game, the build-up and all that comes with getting to a final. This time they’re going into the match knowing what to expect. They’re more experienced in terms of that."

"It looks like tactics are right. The manager is doing a great job, and the personnel look good. And they you’ve got a striker like Alexander Isak up front. You’ve got a striker who can bang in goals and do what he’s doing, it just fills you with confidence. You know you’ve always got a chance of winning when you’ve got a striker like that, full of confidence and who can find the back of the net."

"The other players are always going to put a shift it and keep clean sheets. They did that twice against Arsenal, which was a great effort."

This season has striking similarities to the 2022-23 campaign, which saw Newcastle reach the Carabao Cup final and finish fourth in the Premier League. That led to Champions League football last season, a great experience but one which also took its toll on the Magpies, who could only finish seventh last term.

Howe's side have bounced back to form over the last few months, winning 12 of their last 14 games in all competitions. They sit sixth in the league ahead of a trip to Manchester City this weekend and Simpson - who played in the Champions League with Leicester City after winning the Premier League title when he left Newcastle - believes the club is better equipped this time around, despite Howe having a number of injuries and a threadbare squad.

“I knew they were going to struggle last year playing in the Champions League and the Premier League,” Simpson told Sportsboom. "We did it at Leicester – and it’s really hard. It’s such a massive difference on your workload.

"When you’ve got Saturday to Saturday just to prepare for a league game, well it’s just so much easier than preparing for European games in midweek. But to now have that experience under their belt of what’s required, I think Eddie Howe has said it himself, the European experience has helped him."

"They’re in that mindset now where they can get themselves ready for a big match every two and a half days. It’s all about getting your preparation right – and they seem to have done great with that."

"They want to play in a certain way, high energy, pressing and everyone going at it, it’s obviously a lot better when you don’t have a midweek game in Europe, especially with all the travel that’s associated with it. I’ve been really impressed with them this season."