For injury-ravaged Newcastle United, the Carabao Cup is no unnecessary distraction.
Despite a run of fixtures in Europe and the Premier League that has stretched the club’s squad to breaking point, there is no chance of Eddie Howe wrapping his important players in cotton wool for an intriguing quarter-final at Chelsea.
Such is the desire to end the club’s 54-year trophy drought that a win on Tuesday night, which would bring the prospect of another Wembley final sharply into view, would go a long way to erasing the pain of Newcastle’s heartbreaking Champions League exit.
Howe has been on Tyneside long enough to understand that. It would be easy to take a big picture view of Newcastle’s season but he is a manager who always operates with the handbrake off. So despite the risks he will include Bruno Guimaraes and Kieran Trippier, two key men, in a travelling party that will include every senior player available to him.
Howe has also drafted Dan Burn, Sean Longstaff and Callum Wilson back into his squad, even though they are far from 100 per cent fit, and there will be no resting Saturday’s 17-year-old match winner Lewis Miley.
They have eleven injuries – fresh concerns for Joelinton and Fabian Schar means they will miss Tuesday and the weekend trip to Luton – so it is needs must for a game Howe says Newcastle are “desperate” to prevail in.
“Winnable” is how one Newcastle insider described the Carabao Cup earlier this season, and even if it does not carry the financial rewards of the Champions League or the prestige of the FA Cup, it is being treated as a priority at St James’ Park.
The dressing room talk among the club’s sizeable homegrown contingent has always focused on how this group could become “legends” if they were the ones to finally win something at Newcastle.
“We want the games, we want the competition. We want the excitement of challenging for trophies. That’s where we have to be, not just now but in the future,” Howe said on Monday morning.
“The dream didn’t turn to reality last season, but maybe this year. It’s our best chance of winning a trophy at the moment, because we’re advanced in the competition and getting down to the serious end of it. That is why this game takes on big importance for us.
“You go back to the last round, at Manchester United, the players stood up and gave an outstanding performance. This will be very similar, and we will need to give more.”
These are interesting times at St James’ Park, where Howe will have taken charge of his 100th game in the dugout by the final whistle at Stamford Bridge.
Aside from the rollercoaster Champions League campaign, Newcastle have done well in the Premier League. Away form is a problem but at home, they always seem to find a way.
But – inevitably – challenges have presented themselves this season. There is a belief that some of the issues have been “freak one-offs” but i understands the club’s injury procedures are being studied as part of ongoing review of operations.
Off the field, too, the club are braced for an approach for director of football Dan Ashworth when Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s 25 per cent investment in Manchester United is finally confirmed.
Although Ineos sources insist no major strategic decisions have been taken, there are those close to the situation at Newcastle who fear Ashworth will depart, which would be a sizeable blow to the development at the club. They were linked with a move for Richard Hughes, Bournemouth’s technical director and a close ally of Howe, over the weekend.
Newcastle also intend to be active in the January transfer market, although one potential target – Kalvin Phillips – has received interest from Juventus. Just as at Chelsea, the club will need to box clever to get what they need in January.