- Date: Wednesday November 1, 20:15 GMT
- Location: Old Trafford, Manchester, United Kingdom
- Teams: Manchester United vs Newcastle United
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Repeat of last season’s final at Old Trafford
Newcastle United travel to Old Trafford on the back of a great run since the first international break. Manchester United have made a stuttering start, in terms of performance but are currently only a point behind the sixth placed Geordies in the Premier League.
Manchester United
Man Utd find themselves down in eighth place in the league and, while they have picked up enough points to stay in touch, their performances have been concerning. In the EFL Cup third round they saw off Crystal Palace with a 3-0 win, but the majority of their five league wins have been less convincing. They go into the Newcastle game on the back of a humbling 3-0 home defeat to Manchester City, a match that emphasised the gulf that currently exists between the two clubs.
Luke Shaw (muscle), Amad Diallo (knee), Tyrell Malacia (knee) and Lisandro Martinez (foot) will be absent for the Red Devils on Wednesday, as they were against City on Sunday. Jadon Sancho has now spent two months frozen out of first team plans and is highly unlikely to be recalled.
Neither Casemiro nor Aaron Wan-Bissaka were considered fit enough for the Manchester derby yet both have a chance of being involved against the Magpies. Predicting the line-up is difficult as Ten Hag may decide to rotate his squad. However, given the levels of discontent among the Old Trafford support, he may decide against resting his big hitters in a bid to turn things around.
Newcastle United
After a 5-1 win over Aston Villa on the opening day Newcastle suffered a slump, losing three in a row, though those games were against Man City, Liverpool and Brighton. Since then they have climbed to sixth in the table and performed well in the Champions League. They saw off favourites Manchester City in the third round of the EFL Cup.
A Champions League defeat at home to Dortmund was a blow to Newcastle and despite leading twice, they ahd to settle for a point away at Wolves. Newcastle have a number of injuries, as well as Sandro Tonali’s suspension to deal with and Howe has not been able to shuffle his pack as much as he would like. He may though bring in the likes of summer signings Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall in a bid to rest players and freshen things up.
As well as the suspended Tonali, Harvey Barnes (ankle), Elliot Anderson (back), Jacob Murphy (shoulder), Sven Botman (knee)Lewis Miley (illness) and Alexander Isak (groin) will not be available.
However, there was some good news for the Geordies last week, with Joe Willock making two substitute appearances, his first involvement of the season after a hamstring injury sustained at the end of last season. Joelinton has started the last three matches after missing a number of matches and the pair, key men last season, could give the Magpies options in midfield and attack a timely boost as they near full fitness.
Prediction
Newcastle are in better form but Man United are at home and they have ground out results in recent weeks. We think that it will be a draw after 90 minutes. Meaning the tie will be settled on penalties. Check the best bookmakers for the EFL Cup and the best bookies for football at Betting.com.
