Fulham at Newcastle - EFL Cup Quarterfinal

Fulham travels up to Newcastle for the quarterfinals of the Carabao Cup. Kick off is Wednesday at 3:15pm EST on Paramount+.

Who knows what will happen in this match. Newcastle are defending their title, but they've got a lot going on. They are sitting just two points above Fulham in the league table, they are doing reasonably well in the Champions League, and then there is this matter of getting beaten by Sunderland on Sunday. I'm not sure where Newcastle's heads will be for this one.

Meanwhile Fulham have their own issues with Iwobi, Bassey, and Chukwueze leaving for Afcon. Cuenca should be a straight swap for Bassey and I expect Kevin to come in for Chukwueze. Then there is the issue of the midfield. Silva will probably bring in Lukic, but I think that is not the best option. I'd much rather see a midfield trio of Smith-Rowe, King, and Berge.

I hope that Robinson remains healthy, step up defensively from his performance on Saturday, and develops some rapport with Cuenca. He's been out for a long time so I'm still not expecting peak Jedi, but it could be interesting to see what he can do with Kevin.

Kusi-Asare will be available again and I beg Silva, please, please use him to give Raul a break. There are a lot of matches coming up and he is only human.

Fulham should use this match as an opportunity to try some things out now that Nigeria is at Afcon, but there is also no reason why they can't get a result too.

 

Yes, hard agree. But we probably won't see it.
Despite this being a quarter-final, I am expecting Marco to make lots of changes from the weekend. We have a small roster, and the starters have a ton of miles in their legs. I think this may mean that Lukic starts over Berge. We may also see the return of Adama and the frustration that comes with watching him play.