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00:00Speaking to Eddie Howe ahead of Newcastle United's FA Cup fourth-round trip to
00:05Birmingham City on Saturday, after such a good game, reaching the Carabao Cup
00:12final with a 2-0 win against Arsenal at St James' Park on Wednesday night, this
00:18feels like a little bit the calm after the storm for Newcastle. It's an FA Cup
00:25fourth-round game, early stages for Newcastle against League One opposition,
00:29albeit very good League One opposition, they're flying high, you'd probably rather
00:32play a lower-end championship team than Birmingham City at the moment, but yeah
00:37it's a different sort of change of pace for Newcastle, going down to Birmingham
00:43you'd expect plenty of changes. Eddie Howe hinted as such, he didn't want to say
00:47his team, but mentioned players like Nick Pope, like Emile Kraft, like Callum
00:52Wilson, so Callum Wilson was an interesting one because Eddie Howe said
00:59Callum Wilson, obviously being out for the best part of two months, returned off
01:02the bench late on on Wednesday night and Eddie Howe said Callum Wilson feels like
01:07he's ready to start games despite being out for so long. The club and the
01:11player have been particularly careful with his recovery and Eddie Howe also
01:16said, and people might chuckle at this, is Callum Wilson is almost like a
01:21new signing, like a player who couldn't have got a player better than
01:26Callum Wilson in terms of a striker of his quality in the January transfer
01:32window, so in that regard, such a boost for Newcastle, with an asterisk though,
01:37it's only a boost if he stays fit and you go back to two seasons ago, Callum
01:42Wilson and Alexander Isak, both firing on both cylinders, both fit, both in good
01:47form. Newcastle reached the Carabao Cup final, ultimately didn't win it, but ended
01:53up carrying on momentum and finishing fourth in the Premier League qualifying
01:58for the Champions League, so it was so important in that. So Callum Wilson is a
02:01player who could come into the side, one player who won't be playing though, Sven
02:04Bottman, knee injury, just a knock though, Eddie Howe said, so after a player's out
02:09for 10 months with an ACL injury, you hear a knee injury and you almost fear
02:13the worst, but no, not serious, it's the other knee as well, just a knock, you'll
02:19miss the Birmingham game but will be assessed ahead of Man City, could end up
02:23missing that game too, but again, not a serious knee injury for Sven Bottman.
02:28Other players who'll be out, Harvey Barnes, Joe Linton and Jamal Sells, also
02:34sidelined for the game, so that's pretty much it. Another player who you expect
02:40would come back in naturally after exactly the same amount of time out is
02:45Callum Wilson really, it's been nine weeks since his last
02:50start for Newcastle, he's been an unused sub the last three games, Nick Pope as
02:55goalkeeper, obviously historically, when he's been fit, has been Newcastle's first
03:01choice goalkeeper, so does he come back in? It almost naturally lends itself well
03:06to Nick Pope coming back into the side, an FA Cup game where Eddie Howe is going
03:13to rotate his squad significantly, or start in XI significantly, and Nick Pope
03:18is obviously a very good keeper in his own right, and Eddie Howe said Nick Pope
03:22will be keen to almost remind everyone of how good he is, and getting games
03:27and getting back that feel on the pitch in between the sticks will be important
03:32for him, so I'd expect to see him back. Callum Wilson's another one, the midfield
03:36almost picks itself, you rotate it, the likes of Lewis Miley, Joe Willock, Sean
03:40Longstaff, all available. Right wing position's an interesting one, where
03:44Jacob Murphy's the only natural right winger in the team, and left winger as
03:49well, there's no natural replacement for Anthony Gordon, so do you keep him in?
03:53And right back, another position where you're looking and go, well,
03:59Kieran Trippier played very well on Wednesday night, does he need a run of
04:03games now, do you keep him in the side, or do you go, well, Tino Livermento didn't
04:08start the game, the other night he'll be fit, ready to come in just a few days
04:12later as well. So, choices, and Emile Craft's another option as well, which was
04:17something I asked Eddie Howe about. Emile Craft obviously came off the bench to
04:21replace Sven Botman in the side, that was his first appearance for Newcastle
04:25since October, he's obviously had his own injury issues as well, Emile Craft, so
04:29could we see him as well? So, plenty of decisions Eddie Howe will have to make
04:35ahead of the trip to Birmingham City, and to be honest, it's another chance for
04:40Newcastle to go four in a cup competition. FA Cup hasn't exactly been
04:43particularly kind to them over the years, the Carabao Cup, they've managed to build
04:47up a bit of momentum, get to two finals, a quarter-final, they reached the
04:51quarter-final of the FA Cup last season, but came up against a good Man City side,
04:56and then a few years before that, again, quarter-final against a Man City side,
04:59been a while since they've reached a semi-final or final, I think 20 years
05:03it's been since that semi-final against Manchester United, best part of anyway, so
05:09this is a competition Newcastle will be looking to get to the latter stages of,
05:12and if Wednesday taught us anything, it's that feeling of reaching a final, getting
05:17to Wembley, and potentially ending that trophy drought, it's such a powerful
05:22feeling, and again, it's early stages of the Cup competition, but you've got to
05:26win these games, it's a must-win for Newcastle in the sense that it's a
05:29knockout game, so we'll have all of it to come, all of Eddie Howe's reaction to
05:33come, what he said in the media centre this morning over on the Shields Gazette,
05:38as well as all the reaction and build-up to tomorrow's game, Saturday's
05:42game at St. Andrews, so I've been Dom Skirr, we'll see you there, cheers.