Newcastle United Fan View: Tigers in the Cup

Tonight, Newcastle United face Hull City in the Quarter Finals of the EFL Cup. Tonight also marks the first game this season in which we have faced Premiership opposition. The last time we played a Premier League side was the last game of the 15/16 season when we trounced Tottenham Hotspur 5-1; although that win was a bit of a freak result given the way the rest of the reason had gone, tonight will be a good test as to how far we have come under Rafa Benitez.

This season has for the most part been a breath of fresh air. We sit top of the table, we are playing some wonderful free flowing football and, despite the odd defeat, we look like a very, very good side. The PR, press and publicity off the pitch has been fantastic and writing about Newcastle United has been an absolute pleasure so far. However, I said a couple of weeks ago that we must keep the winning momentum going through December and approach the January transfer window in a strong position - the defeat on Saturday against Blackburn Rovers was a blip for me, rather than anything serious to worry about, but we must learn from that defeat and approach the game tonight with confidence.

Newcastle United fans have taken up their 2,474 allocation of seats the game tonight and if truth be told, we could have sold 4 times that if Hull City had made more tickets available to the away fans. Instead they have decided to close parts of their ground due to poor ticket sales. A real crying shame.

Whilst Benitez has denied having one eye on this match prior to the Blackburn defeat, it is safe to assume that a lot of the players that were rested at the weekend will come in to the side tonight. I fully expect Dwight Gayle to return and it wouldn’t surprise me if Mo Diame faced his old side at the expense of the rather inconsistent Ayoze Perez. I would also assume that Yoan Gouffran will also return to the side; when Gouffran has played our form has been WWWWWWWDWWW. When he didn’t play on Saturday, we lost. It is a no brainer that Gouffran should start tonight.

I’m really looking forward to the game but I can’t deny I will have one eye on the other match as well and hoping the Championship side Leeds United prevail against Liverpool. Whilst I don’t want to get too carried away just yet, we of course have to overcome Hull first, we do have a really good chance of making some significant progress in this competition. Yes, there are 6 Premiership sides still in it and I would expect all of them to be capable of getting a result against us but this is the EFL Cup, will they have their minds on their own European and domestic exploits? Could this be our year? I hope so.