Eddie Howe goes in against the full might of a demand from Pep Guardiola that his side must be celebrating another trip to Wembley come full-time at the Etihad Stadium.
Howe is bidding to emulate the only Newcastle manager to win at the Etihad Stadium in club history in Alan Pardew who guided the Magpies to a 2-0 win over Man City in the Capital One Cup in 2014. But back then City’s dominance of English football was merely in its infancy compared to the juggernaut they’ve become after being crowned European and world champions of club football.
There’s no chance of Guardiola naming an even slightly tweaked team and he will be unleashing all of his A-listers on Newcastle including Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Rodri. Only the injured stars like Ederson and Kevin De Bruyne miss out.
Speaking ahead of the clash with Newcastle, trophy-hungry boss Guardiola said: “This season and previous ones since Eddie Howe was there and the people from Saudi Arabia took over, it’s always been tight games and we don’t expect anything different games the support of our fans like we had against United, I don’t remember that environment for a long time.
“Tomorrow isn’t an exception. We need it to reach the semi-final at Wembley again.”
Howe stressed that he had watched Man City “forensically” in the build-up to the game but won’t play down their brilliance. He said: “I’ve watched all of (City’s) recent games in depth, which is always a very interesting thing because you understand how good they are when you watch them forensically. They’re an incredible football team and they have been so consistent.
“The way they play is unique to them and they have the best manager that’s, arguably, ever been and elite players.”
About The Author
Leave a Reply