Newcastle United will be bidding to book their spot in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup when they head to Ewood Park to tackle Championship outfit Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday night.
The visitors will enter the match off the back of a 4-1 defeat at Arsenal in the Premier League, while Blackburn drew 1-1 with Norwich City in the second tier of English football last time out.
Match preview
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Blackburn are six-time winners of the FA Cup, lifting the trophy in 1884, 1885, 1886, 1890, 1891 and 1928, while they also reached the final of the competition in 1882 and 1960.
Rovers will not view this competition as a priority this season, but they have been full of goals in the 2023-24 FA Cup, thumping Cambridge United 5-2 in the third round before beating Wrexham 4-1 last time out.
John Eustace's side will enter this match off the back of a 1-1 draw with Norwich in the Championship on Saturday afternoon, which made it three straight draws in the second tier of English football.
Blackburn are currently 16th in the Championship table, 16 points off the playoff positions, so it is going to be difficult for them to challenge for promotion this season, and they are only actually four points outside of the relegation zone at a vital stage of the campaign.
Rovers have lost their last two matches against Newcastle, which have been in the League Cup and FA Cup, with the team's last success over the Magpies coming in a Championship clash in January 2017.
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Newcastle, meanwhile, will enter the match off the back of a 4-1 defeat at Arsenal in the Premier League, with the result ending a five-game unbeaten run for the Magpies.
Eddie Howe's side are eighth in the Premier League table, 10 points behind fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur and 15 points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa, so it is going to be difficult for them to challenge for Champions League football for the 2024-25 campaign.
However, it is vital that the club secure European football of some kind, so the next few weeks are crucial, but the chance to win an FA Cup under the new ownership is an opportunity that might not come around too often.
Newcastle have also won the FA Cup on six previous occasions, triumphing in 1910, 1924, 1932, 1951, 1952 and 1955, while they were last present in the final in 1999, famously losing to Manchester United.
The Magpies have been impressive in this season's FA Cup, beating Sunderland 3-0 in the third round of the competition at the start of January before recording a 2-0 victory away to Fulham in the fourth round.
Team News
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Blackburn will again be missing Joe Rankin-Costello, John Fleck and Hayden Carter on Tuesday due to injury, while Harry Leonard remains a doubt due to a knock.
Ryan Hedges is also set to miss out with the problem that forced him off in the opening 15 minutes of the clash with Norwich in the Championship on Saturday.
Head coach Eustace could make a couple of changes to the side that started against the Canaries, with Andrew Moran and Arnor Sigurdsson coming into the side, but Sammie Szmodics and Sam Gallagher should continue in the final third of the field.
Newcastle head coach Howe has named a strong team in the competition this season and that is again likely to be the case on Tuesday, but there are expected to be changes from the side that took to the field for the first whistle against Arsenal on Saturday.
Sandro Tonali, Callum Wilson, Joelinton, Nick Pope, Elliot Anderson and Matt Targett remain unavailable, while Martin Dubravka is a doubt due to illness, so Loris Karius could continue between the sticks.
Harvey Barnes, Jacob Murphy, Joe Willock and Dan Burn could all come into the side following the clash with Arsenal, but the likes of Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schar, Sven Botman and Alexander Isak should keep their spots.
Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:
Pears; Hyam, McFadzean, Wharton; Brittain, Garrett, Tronstad, Sigurdsson; Moran, Szmodics, Gallagher
Newcastle United possible starting lineup:
Karius; Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn; Willock, Bruno, S Longstaff; Barnes, Isak, J Murphy
We say: Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Newcastle United
Blackburn are more than capable of progressing to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup at Newcastle's expense, and we are expecting Tuesday's affair to be extremely close. Newcastle boss Howe is set to name a strong side, though, and we are backing the visitors to navigate their way into the final eight.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Matt Law
