Southampton-Newcastle is a League Cup semi-final first leg match to be played on Tuesday at 21:00: line-ups, predictions, TV and streaming.
In England it’s cup time again. Next weekend the Premier League stops to give space to the FA Cup, but first there is the first leg of the League Cup semi-finals and it starts with the match between Southampton and Newcastle.
An unusual semi-final, almost impossible to predict at the start of the event. Instead of the Saints – at least on paper – it should have been Manchester City, but the Citizens surprisingly fell 2-0 at St Mary’s against the team that has been last in the league table for several months. Everyone was expecting a clear victory from Pep Guardiola’s team, but instead the goals of Mara and Djenepo allowed Nathan Jones and his men – despite their first objective continuing to be the maintenance of the category – to snatch a pass for the penultimate act of the third most important competition in the other side of the Channel. A success, the one achieved in the League Cup, which gave a slight boost to Southampton, who were again victorious a few days later in the important direct clash with Everton, who came back in the second half (1-2).
Newcastle in semi-final after 47 years
Saturday, however, the Saints came back down to earth, losing in front of their own home crowd to Aston Villa (0-1) at the end of a match conditioned by some questionable refereeing decisions. However, Jones and his team can now “distract themselves” with the League Cup and go in pursuit of that final last reached in 2017, when they were then defeated in the last act at Wembley by José Mourinho’s Manchester United.
Trippier and Howe
The cup is also a big occasion for Newcastle, who have now become a Premier League bigwig in their own right. The Magpies, who have been back in a League Cup semi-final since 1976, could baptize the so-called ‘new era’ that began with the arrival of the wealthy Saudi fund Pif with a trophy. In the league they just drew 0-0 at home to Crystal Palace, still remaining third on equal points with Manchester United. Eddie Howe’s team continue to not concede goals and above all not to lose: it is enough to think that, in the Premier, the only defeat dates back to last August.
The Prediction
There is no doubt that Southampton will play it out, not being distracted by league affairs. It must be said, however, that in the Premier League clash staged last November on the last day before the break, there was no history. At St Mary’s there was a monologue of Newcastle, who overwhelmed the Saints 4-1. This time we expect a tighter match, with the guests thinking first of all not to concede goals, taking advantage of the counter-attacks. Magpies favourites in a contest of less than three goals overall
The Southampton-Newcastle matchday squad
- SOUTHAMPTON (4-2-3-1): Bazunu; Lyanco, Salisu, Caleta-Car, Walker-Peters; Diallo, Lavia; Edozie, Ward-Prowse, Djenepo; Mara.
- NEWCASTLE (4-3-3): Pope; Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn; Willock, Bruno Guimaraes, Longstaff; Almiron, Wilson, Joelinton.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 0-1
