Newcastle United kick off their FA Cup journey against Sheffield Wednesday, and BBC Sport pundit Chris Sutton has predicted who he thinks will make it through to the next round.
The Owls beat Morecambe and Mansfield to make it through to the third round, which is the stage that Newcastle enter the competition.
A win for Eddie Howe’s side will be an improvement on last year, when the Magpies were embarrassingly dumped out by Cambridge United. That was Kieran Trippier’s Toon debut, and he probably couldn’t believe what he had signed himself up for.
Fast forward 12 months and a lot has changed. Newcastle are in a much better position, and are well placed to hopefully go deep into the FA Cup.
To do that, they will need to get past their League One opponents at Hillsborough. And Sutton does not expect it to be a straightforward affair for Howe and co.
Sutton predicts Newcastle to need replay to advance vs Sheffield Wednesday
Ahead of the game, Sutton has provided his pre-match predictions for the BBC Sport website. He expects Newcastle to draw 1-1 with Sheffield Wednesday, before advancing to the next round via the replay at St James’ Park.
“Eddie Howe used to be known for making 10 or even 11 changes to his team for FA Cup ties when he was in charge at Bournemouth, so it will be interesting to see what he does when his Newcastle side travel to Sheffield Wednesday,” Sutton wrote.
“Newcastle are doing brilliantly in the Premier League, and have got a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Leicester coming up on Tuesday. Their fans already love Howe – imagine how they would feel about him if he lands them a major trophy?
“This is a tricky tie, though, with Wednesday in good form and going for automatic promotion.
“I don’t see a repeat of last season, when Newcastle were upset by another League One side, Cambridge, at St James’ Park, but they might have to survive a bit of a scare to make it through to round four.”
FA Cup progress not a guarantee for Newcastle
Last season’s defeat to Cambridge was incredibly embarrassing. It came in front of a sold out St James’ Park, at a time when Howe was looking to start making his mark as Toon boss. Instead, his side were beaten 1-0 by their League One opponents.
A similar defeat this year would be equally as embarrassing, but for different reasons. This game won’t be at home, and it comes against a side that is flying in the third tier of English football.
However, Newcastle are flying themselves. We are third in the Premier League, and in the quarter finals of the Carabao Cup. It has pretty much been a perfect season so far.
The FA Cup clash with the Owls is a potential banana skin, especially with Howe likely to shuffle his pack. But it will still be a strong Toon team, with Allan Saint-Maximin and Alexander Isak expected to be involved.
It won’t be a full strength Newcastle team, but it should be good enough to get the job done.
Sutton doesn’t think they will, and hopefully he is wrong. With fixtures piling up, the last thing we need is an FA Cup third round replay.
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