Hull City vs Newcastle United. Carabao Cup Quarter-Final.
MKM StadiumAttendance16,243.
Hull City win 3-1 on penalties.
Tuesday 29 November 2016 19:10, UK
Rafa Benitez is set to rotate his side once again as Newcastle travel to Hull City in the EFL Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday.
The former Liverpool and Real Madrid boss has used the policy through the season, making six changes for the weekend's loss to Blackburn.
Despite the result, Benitez confirmed he would be doing so again for the trip to the KCOM Stadium and defended his decision.
"Our approach will be the same. We were doing well in the cup because we have a strong squad," he told a pre-match press conference.
"If I change players, it is because I am convinced it is still a strong team. In terms of the game, it will be tough for both teams.
"It's a motivation for us to play against a Premier League team. They play at home, so they have a little bit of an advantage."
Mike Phelan, whose side currently occupy 18th spot in the Premier League, indicated he would do similar, with changes expected from the side that drew 1-1 against West Brom on Saturday.
"The team that we play will be strong," he said. "I think we have got three or four players that have not played minutes up to now and going into December we need to get them out on the grass, so we will be using them.
"We should be in reasonably good shape, and be strong. There will be changes, but some of those changes are internationals.
"We will do our job and prepare the team to play a good Newcastle team."
Benitez confirmed Jesus Gamez will need surgery on his collarbone and will not feature for Newcastle for the next six weeks.
Hull will be without Ryan Mason after an illness saw him withdrawn at half-time in Saturday's draw with the Baggies.
Sam Clucas will also miss out after picking up five bookings for the season.
Phelan may be tempted to hand Andrew Robertson and Adama Diomande starts after the pair were second-half substitutes at the weekend following their returns from injury and suspension respectively.
Hull and Newcastle have met just once in League Cup history, with the Tigers losing a third round tie 2-0 at St. James' Park in 1997/98.
The Magpies are unbeaten in their last three games against Hull (W2 D1), with both of their victories coming away from home.
Hull are riding a three-game winning streak in the League Cup, their best ever run in the competition.
The last four meetings between these two sides have produced 17 goals in total (4.25 per game), with Newcastle scoring 11 of those.
Newcastle have played in eight League Cup quarter-finals (including one replay), winning just one of those games (D1 L6).
The Magpies have also lost each of their last five quarter-final ties within that run, failing to score on every occasion (10 goals conceded).
Newcastle have kept three clean sheets in as many EFL Cup games this season; the most of any team in the competition so far.
With six different goalscorers in the EFL Cup, Hull have the most varied spread of goals of any side left in the competition (6).
Charlie's prediction
It does surprise me that Newcastle are favourites to a degree, although given the way Thommo was talking about Hull, they hardly turned the corner by salvaging a draw against West Brom.
The problem for Hull is that they can't really rest anybody, which is worrying for their Premier League survival hopes, but means they have to pretty much go with their best team here.
They seem to be having the most problems with their midfield, Tom Huddlestone dropped and Ryan Mason hauled off at half-time.
Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez tried to play it clever by leaving out Dwight Gayle among others at the weekend and it backfired, with a troubling loss killing their momentum.
In terms of value, Hull are appealing here as the outsiders in what I see as a tough one to call.
Charlie predicts: Hull to win 2-1 (10/1 with Sky Bet) and Robert Snodgrass to score first (13/2 with Sky Bet)
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