Newcastle were given a tough draw in the FA Cup 4th round last night when we were drawn away to the winner of the Chelsea vs. Norwich replay.
The boring tie at Carrow Road ended in a 0-0 draw, and the replay will be next week.
But if we do get Chelsea it will be tough to get through to round 5.
The only way we can see that happening is if Antonio Conte plays a fairly weak side in the tie and Rafa Benitez plays primarily his strongest side.
Antonio Conte – Chelsea manager
But it will all depend on the next two league results – at home to Swansea and then away at Manchester City.
If we don’t do well in those games, it’s likely Rafa will field a weakened side to protect his best players from possible injury.
Survival in the Premier League must be our priority this season – with or without the help of absent owner Mike Ashley.
Here’s the 4th round draw in full with the games being played between 26-29 January.
Liverpool v West Brom
Peterborough v Fleetwood/Leicester
Huddersfield v Birmingham
Notts County v Wolves/Swansea
Yeovil v Manchester United
Carlisle/Sheffield Weds v Stevenage/Reading
Cardiff/Mansfield v Manchester City
MK Dons v Coventry
Millwall v Rochdale
Southampton v Watford
Middlesbrough v Brighton/Crystal Palace
Bournemouth/Wigan v Shrewsbury/West Ham
Hull v Nottingham Forest
Newport County v Spurs
Norwich/Chelsea v Newcastle
Sheffield United v Preston
Comments welcome.
16 comments so far
DubaiMicky
Jan 9, 2018 at 8:43 AM
Comment #1From The Mag – another view of MASh/SD/NUFC
https://tinyurl.com/ybosasyy
runheed
Jan 9, 2018 at 8:44 AM
Comment #2Not getting my hopes up here. Like everyone seems to be doing over the ‘takeover’. Past experience suggests more disappointment to come 🙁
Jail for Ashley
Jan 9, 2018 at 8:46 AM
Comment #3Our Toon,
Sels and Lazaar didn’t play because they simply weren’t good enough. Gamez didn’t play because he was injured and the rest of the team stayed relatively injury free. Does law would have had Anita, Dummet and Yedlin all injured had we not have had signed him. Clarke would have had to be dragged in to LB and so on. Remember the shambles when we had Santon playing at CB against Norwich due to that ridiculous purple policy.
Jail for Ashley
Jan 9, 2018 at 8:52 AM
Comment #4Dubai Mickey,
I gave up on that. I just wish we’d get some proper news.
DubaiMicky
Jan 9, 2018 at 8:53 AM
Comment #5Jail, I quite agree, shit or get off the netty comes to mind.
sparky55
Jan 9, 2018 at 8:54 AM
Comment #6Don’t get the Shelvey thing…he’s a good player worth much more than 12 million and the 70k a week he’s on will pale into insignificance once Amanda’s group come in after the takeover as most good players that will be coming in after the takeover will be on twice that.
It doesn’t matter what he’s getting paid because market forces dictate that for English National team players…the main point is is he really only worth 1 tenth of what Coutinho is worth or the same as the lad we got we from Norwich.
I think not somehow
Bobbybee
Jan 9, 2018 at 8:55 AM
Comment #7Our Toon, As we can see, getting loan players is proving very difficult. Who would you suggest we could get on loan to replace the quality Shelvey brings? Rafa doesn’t even know if he can afford loans right now and has no guarantee that if he sells, he can use that money to buy.
Tbh I wouldn’t shift anybody out right now, not until this deal either happens or doesn’t. We could weaken the team and then find Ashley refusing to sanction any buys. It has the feel of selling the family silver before doing a moonlight flit. Rafa needs to tread very carefully.
Mindshaft
Jan 9, 2018 at 8:55 AM
Comment #8Can’t see us getting a win but if we beat Swansea this weekend then I think Rafa will play a strong team – friends on the Chelsea side – they were terrible away to Norwich
Tsunki
Jan 9, 2018 at 8:57 AM
Comment #9Marmite he may be but shelvey does add something of a radical twist to our game plan. Putting him on completely changes our shape and attitude. Unless we are talking about defenders and keepers (and even then there are mitigating factors,) i don’t really have much time for stats that say we lose more games with a certain outfield player in the team as if it’s that one players fault. Unless it’s Colback ofc.
Tsunki
Jan 9, 2018 at 8:58 AM
Comment #10We will sweep the overconfident Chelsea aside in shock and horror.
It’s the lower leaguers I’m afraid of, real party poopers.
Jail for Ashley
Jan 9, 2018 at 9:02 AM
Comment #11The only player that should be allowed to go this window is Colback. No point in selling Mitro or anyone for that matter to release funds when you have Churnley, under orders from Ashley doing the negotiations for new players.
Bobbybee
Jan 9, 2018 at 9:04 AM
Comment #12If Chelsea field the same side as they did v Norwich I seriously fancy our chances. They were woeful against Norwich who would be more of a problem if they managed to beat Chelsea away. Not much chance, but I’d sooner face a Chelsea side full of second string players than a full strength Norwich team with a point to prove.
I expected far better from Chelsea tbh, I thought they had real strength in depth but they struggled big time against Norwich. Our full strength side could definitely win that game.
Bobbybee
Jan 9, 2018 at 9:07 AM
Comment #13It’s, written in the stars. Yeovil beat Manure, Newport beat Spurs and Mansfield crush City, leaving us to destroy Chelsea and match on towards Wembley…
Sorry, fell back to sleep for a minute the there and was dreaming. 🙂
Bobbybee
Jan 9, 2018 at 9:09 AM
Comment #14March on might sound better like. And the there sounds like my stutter is back 🙂 Bloody phone!!!
widowmagandapoke
Jan 9, 2018 at 3:08 PM
Comment #15Shelvey is our most creative player. The end.
Rupert Pink
Jan 9, 2018 at 3:43 PM
Comment #16There’s an announcement in five mins lads.