Newcastle United face Leicester City in an all-Premier League EFL Cup second round tie at St James’ Park on Wednesday evening.
Newcastle United team news
Allan Saint-Maximin is ruled out after sustaining a hamstring injury in the first-half of Sunday’s Premier League win over Tottenham Hotspur.
Joelinton (groin), Miguel Almiron (ankle), Fabian Schar (knock), Jamaal Lascelles (calf) will all be assessed, but manager Steve Bruce may decide against risking them in this cup tie.
DeAndre Yedlin (groin), Dwight Gayle (calf), Jack Colback (groin), Andy Carroll (match fitness) and Florian Lejeune (knee) remain sidelined.
Leicester City team news
Midfielder Wilfred Ndidi (hamstring) is still sidelined. Left-back Ben Chilwell (groin) will be assessed, but is likely to be given a bit more time to recover.
Newcastle form
The Magpies were sitting in the relegation zone without a single point under new manager Bruce before their shock win over Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last weekend.
A 0-1 defeat at home to Arsenal and 3-1 loss at Norwich City had not offered any clue that the upset against Mauricio Pochettino’s Champions League finalists was on the cards.
Leicester form
The Foxes are unbeaten so far this season. Their record of one win and two draws from their first three games of the Premier League season leaves them sitting fourth in the table.
Last weekend’s win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane followed draws with Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Leicester have won on their last three visits to St James’ Park.
Newcastle vs Leicester betting
Even the best football betting sites struggle to know how to assess these early round EFL Cup ties. It is hard to know which managers will field the weakest XI and which fancy a cup run. In this case, the bookmakers consider Leicester to be the side most likely to progress to the third round. Despite being the away side, the Foxes are 11/10 favourites to win this match. The Magpies are at 21/10, while you can get odds of 23/10 on the scores being tied at the end of 90 minutes.
