The first leg of the EFL Cup semi finals take place this week and the first of the match ups sees Newcastle host Manchester City on Tuesday night.
Prices quoted are correct at the time of publication but subject to change.
Arsenal and Chelsea are the other semi finalists and the first leg of their match up takes place at The Emirates on Wednesday, preview to follow.
Newcastle
Newcastle have been drawn at home in each of the previous round. They won this trophy last season, beating Liverpool in the final and so far their defence of the EFL Cup has comprised of wins over Bradford (4-1), Spurs 2-0) and Fulham (2-1).
Newcastle also made progress in the FA Cup last weekend, they played out a thrilling 3-3 draw with Bournemouth at St. James Park (2-2 regulation time) and then held their nerve to win the penalty shoot out.
In the EPL Newcastle have won each of their last 3 outings, at Burnley (3-1) and at home to Palace (2-0) and Leeds (4-3). That run has seen them move up to sixth place, their highest position of the season so far.
Newcastle will return to Champions League action later this month. They are in 12th place with 10 points from 6 rounds of matches, 2 points shy of a top 8 spot and automatic qualification for the knockout rounds.
Man City
City’s cup run began with wins away to Huddersfield (2-0) and Swansea (3-1) before they ran out 2-0 winners at home to Brentford.
City’s 3rd Round FA Cup tie last weekend saw them thrash Exeter 10-1.
City have dropped points in drawing each of their last 3 league games, at Sunderland (0-0) and at home to Chelsea and Brighton (both 1-1). They remain second in the standings, level on points with Villa and they are now 6 points behind Arsenal in the title race.
In the UCL City have won 4, drawn 1 and lost 1 of their first 6 matches and with 2 rounds remaining they are currently in fourth spot.
Recent Head to Head
The teams met in the EPL at St. James Park on the 22nd November and Newcastle were 2-1 winners thanks to a brace of second half goals from Harvey Barnes either side of a Ruben Dias equaalizer for City.
The Betting
At the time of writing Newcastle are 21/10 to win the first leg with the draw at 26/10 and City can be backed at around 23/20.
A game of 3 goals or more is priced at 6/10 and it’s 0.52/1 for both teams to score.
The Verdict
The two leg nature of the semi finals needs considering but with both sides missing some key defenders there is scope for goals. Semenyo is available to City and I fancy them to score more than once.
Bets: Man City total goals over 1.5 at 17/20 with Pokerbet
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change