League Cup round of 16 preview: Newcastle hunting first domestic trophy in over 60 years

Domestic knockout football is finally back upon us as the League Cup round of 16 phase commences. We preview the best of the action below.

Newcastle v Bournemouth – Tuesday 19:45

One of two all-Premier League clashes sees Bournemouth make the long trip up to high-flying Newcastle on Tuesday night. It seems an age since when Newcastle recorded a gritty 1-0 win over Chelsea to strengthen their top-four aspirations in their most recent game last month, and fans of the Magpies will be hoping Eddie Howe’s men can continue that momentum into 2023.

The Toon Army haven’t seen their side lift a major domestic trophy since 1955, but will look on this year’s League Cup as a brilliant opportunity to end that run, given the amount of big sides that have already been knocked out. They will start as 7/20 favourites against a Bournemouth team who they have already drawn at St James’ Park this season – a 1-1 result back in September. Since then, the Magpies have won every home game, conceding just one goal in the process.

Bournemouth stuck four goals past Everton in the previous round of the League Cup, before recording a 3-0 win over the same opposition four days later. That result ended a run of five winless fixtures for Gary O’Neil’s side, who remain just three points adrift of safety in the league despite an admirable display on their return to the Premier League. The Cherries will begin Tuesday’s encounter as 13/2 underdogs, with a draw priced at 17/5.

Making a selection in the goalscorer markets will be tricky, given the quick turnaround from the World Cup, so having a punt on players that didn’t travel to Qatar may prove a profitable strategy. With that in mind, Chris Wood (14/5) and Miguel Almiron (7/2) look decent first goalscorer picks, with Eddie Howe presumably keen to give his players some match fitness before the resumption of the Premier League next week.

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Manchester City v Liverpool – 20:00

Undoubtedly the most attractive tie of the round comes from the Etihad Stadium on Thursday as eight-time winners Manchester City welcome current holders Liverpool. City’s love affair with this competition – after winning four in a row – was ended by Jurgen Klopp’s Reds last summer with a dramatic penalty shootout victory against Chelsea.

The Sky Blues entered the World Cup break on the back of a shock 2-1 loss at home to Brentford to concede a five-point lead to Arsenal at the top of the Premier League, but Pep Guardiola will first have to contend with a visit from their recent title rivals before thinking about a rescue mission for the division crown. They coasted to a 2-0 win over last year’s finalists Chelsea in the previous round, and will likely flex their squad depth again to ease players back into rhythm on Thursday. They start as 17/20 favourites to win the game, and 1/2 to progress in general.

Liverpool enjoyed a slight upturn in domestic form before their squad parted ways for the World Cup, with two successive victories in the Premier League to go alongside their penalty shootout victory against Derby County in the last round of this competition. After many years of neglecting the domestic knockout trophies, Jurgen Klopp seems to have finally found a winning method with these competitions, with last year’s triumph backed up by a similar win over Chelsea in the FA Cup final four months later.

Liverpool were rocked by the news that Luis Diaz will miss another four months of action after aggravating his muscular injury, but the Colombian would have been unlikely to feature in this game anyway. The Reds will start as 6/4 outsiders to progress from the tie, and can be backed at a larger 5/2 price to win the game in 90 minutes.

Again, selecting a potential goalscorer is practically a lottery given the context of the game, but it’s worth noting that striker Erling Haaland did not travel for the World Cup and will likely need match fitness to be in good nick for Boxing Day. With that in mind, backing the Norwegian at 5/2 to net the opening goal could be a reasonable pick, whilst we also like the look of Riyad Mahrez at 13/5 to score anytime.

For Liverpool, both Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino did not travel to Qatar, and are 21/10 and 15/8 to find the net any time respectively. Also keep an eye out on Fabio Carvalho, who can boldly be backed at 9/1 to score the last goal on Thursday night.

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