Newcastle United vs Leicester City tip preview: Goals looking likely in tasty EFL Cup clash
- Sergiu Baltuta
- 10 January 2023
Tipstrr football expert Sergiu Balbuta assesses the form and prospects of Newcastle United and Leicester City in what promises to be an entertaining EFL Cup quarter-final at St James's Park.
This will be Newcastle's third consecutive EFL Cup tie against Premier League opposition, having beaten Crystal Palace after penalties (0-0) and Bournemouth 1-0 after kicking off their campaign with a 2-1 away win at Tranmere.
Recently they earned a hard-fought goalless draw at league leaders Arsenal, and managed an equally impressive 3-0 away win against Tuesday's opponents, Leicester.
In their last outing at the weekend, manager Eddie Howe used their FA Cup tie at Sheffield Wednesday as an opportunity to rest many key players, but the move backfired as they suffered a surprising 2-1 defeat, their first reversal in 17 games in all competitions.
Jonjo Shelvey and Allan Saint-Maximin are the only unavailable players, and Howe is likely to shuffle his pack again to field a stronger starting line-up this close to Wembley.
On the other side, Leicester have won the Premier League title , the FA Cup and the FA Community Shield in the last few years, and will no doubt be looking to add the EFL Cup to their recent collection.
Brendan Rodgers has the players at his disposal capable of reaching the Wembley final, although Leicester's threat is always reduced without the creative influence of chief playmaker, James Maddison.
His absence since the World Cup has significantly coincided with a very poor run of Premier League form that has seen them lose all three Premier League games since the break, 0-3 against Newcastle, 1-2 against Liverpool and 0-1 against Fulham.
Rodgers' priority will be to avoid a relegation dog-fight in the Premier League, but without a doubt he will also have an eye on the EFL Cup, as some mid-season silverware could be a huge boost to confidence.
The Foxes won the last of their three EFL Cups back in 2000, and in the current campaign they have benefited from a favourable draw, comfortably seeing off three lower-tier opponents - Stockport County (1-0) along with Newport County and MK Dons (both 3-0).
They are sure to be more severely tested by Newcastle's attacking threat, and it's worth noting that the last seven league encounters between these two clubs all produced at least three goals, so it's perhaps safe to assume that we can expect more of the same in this enticing cup clash.
