EFL Cup Semi Final, First Leg: 24th Jan, 8:00pm
It seems strange to see a two-legged semi-final in this day and age, but the EFL Cup will this week see the first instalment of those games. And Southampton will host the first of the two semis against Newcastle with renewed confidence.
The Saints lost 4-1 to Newcastle in the Premier League in November, with referee Stuart Attwell in charge – and he will take charge once again.
But Nathan Jones has since arrived to stiffen up the hosts’ backline. And there has been evidence of Southampton’s defensive improvement with a clean sheet against Man City in the quarter-final win.
They survived a major second-half onslaught to keep a strong City side at bay – and Newcastle do not pose the type of all-round threat of the champions.
Jones’ men lost 1-0 to Villa at the weekend in a display Jones labelled as “frustrating”. Saints were denied the opening goal by VAR and were well worth a point. But that defeat ended a winning run of three games and Jones will want to make sure the confidence does not slip away ahead of Tuesday’s game.
Saints are likely to field a strong side as they look to move within a step of a first major final in six years.
Newcastle will head south for their first cup semi-final tie since 2005 and Eddie Howe will likely field as strong a team as he can.
The previous round’s win over Leicester saw Howe field his ever-reliable back four, while Bruno Guimaraes and Callum Wilson featured.
Like Southampton, Newcastle were frustrated in a goalless draw at Crystal Palace and while their defence has been rock-solid, goals have been hard to come by.
Eight clean sheets in nine games tells its own story, but goals have not been free-flowing with only nine in that time, while they were also bundled out of the FA Cup 2-1 at Sheffield Wednesday.
That will give the hosts hope, although Newcastle did make some key personnel changes at Hillsborough with the likes of Dan Burn, Kieran Trippier and Guimaraes rested.
Newcastle have recorded three goalless draws in their last six games and they may well be happy heading back north with a stalemate and a second leg to put that right.
Key stats
- Southampton have seen over 2.5 goals in 13 of their last 16 matches against Newcastle in all competitions
- Newcastle have scored at least 2 goals in their last 4 matches against Southampton in all competitions
- Newcastle have won just two of their last six games in all competitions
- Newcastle have kept a clean sheet in eight of their last nine games in all competitions
- Saturday’s defeat at home to Aston Villa ended a run of three straight wins for Saints
- Newcastle won the corresponding PL fixture 4-1 in November
