Preview: Newcastle United v. Arsenal, Carling Cup 4th Round

Nicklas Bendtner beat the Magpies with this 83rd minute goal in 2007. Pic via Arsenal.com.

St. James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne

Wednesday, October 27

19:45 BST, 2:45 p.m. EDT

• Referee: Andre Marriner
• Last League Match: Newcastle 1 - 3 Arsenal; March 21, 2009
• All-Time in All Competitions: 64 Arsenal wins, 65 Newcastle wins, 36 draws
• All-Time in League Cup: 3 Arsenal wins, 0 Newcastle wins, 0 draws
• Arsenal's League Form: W-D-L-L-W-W
• Newcastle's League Form: L-W-L-L-D-W

News and Notes

• Jack Wilshere will serve the second match of his three match ban for the straight red card he picked up against Birmingham City.
• Arsene Wenger has stated that the side's strength will be similar to the side he sent out at White Hart Lane in the third round.
• A lot of first team players need to get games in, so we're fairly likely to see the likes of Kieran Gibbs, Emmanuel Eboue, Carlos Vela, probably Abou Diaby, and maybe Denilson and Tomas Rosicky at some point.
• Nicklas Bendtner and Theo Walcott, both coming back from injury, will likely see a lot of time.
• Wojciech Szczesny will start in goal; if he didn't start this one, he probably wasn't going to start any this year.
• Henri Lansbury, Craig Eastmond, and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas may also make the named squad.

Match Facts

• Arsenal have met Newcastle three times in the League Cup; all three have been in London and all three were Arsenal wins (2-0 in 2007/08, 2-0 in 1995/96, and 4-0 in 1971/72.)
• Arsenal took all six points from the Magpies in 2008/09, winning 3-0 at the Emirates and 3-1 at St. James' Park.
• Arsenal beat Newcastle in both domestic cups in 2007/08.
• The last time Arsenal lost a cup tie against Newcastle was the 1952 FA Cup Final. At a time where substitutions were not allowed in the game, Arsenal had to finish the match with seven players due to injuries, and conceded late to lose 1-0.

The Referee

• The referee is Andre Marriner.
• This is his first time working an Arsenal match this year; last year he handled the 3-0 loss to Chelsea at the Emirates along with two matches won by Nicklas Bendtner in injury time: 2-1 at Hull and 1-0 against Wolves.
• Earlier this year, he took charge of Newcastle's 1-0 win at Goodison Park. He handled only four Championship matches last year, but one was the Geordies' 0-0 draw at Leicester.

Other Fourth Round Ties
(P = Premier League, C = Championship, L1 = League One, L2 = League Two)

• Tuesday: Manchester United (P) v. Wolverhampton Wanderers (P); Old Trafford, Manchester
• Tuesday: Birmingham City (P) v. Brentford (L1); St. Andrew's, Birmingham
• Tuesday: Ipswich Town (C) v. Northampton Town (L2); Portman Road, Ipswich
• Tuesday: Leicester City (C) v. West Bromwich Albion (P); Walkers Stadium, Leicester
• Tuesday: Wigan Athletic (P) v. Swansea City (C); DW Stadium, Wigan
• Wednesday: Aston Villa (P) v. Burnley (C); Villa Park, Birmingham
• Wednesday: West Ham United (P) v. Stoke City (P); Boleyn Ground, London