Blackburn v Newcastle: FA Cup third-round replay – live!

I will not mention the B word, but if you’d like news of the evening’s first comprehensive defeat, there’s this:

Here’s some snippets from the two managers. First, Rafa Benitez:

Always to win is good because it gives you more confidence. We will try to do our best today and try to come through. You know our list of injuries. We have to manage with the squad that we have, but at the same time I’m confident we can go through. The players know each other really well, they know what we want. We’ve approached the game the same as always.

And here’s Tony Mowbray:

We’ve got a bit of illness, varying degrees of illness. A player left our hotel on Saturday morning because we didn’t want him to pass on his virus, but it looks like one or two have picked up what he had. We’ve got a couple on our bench who aren’t feeling 100%. The big issue is our defence. It’s a problem for us but we’ll give it our best shot tonight. It’s a good challenge for us, a good test against a Premier League side. I know they’ve made changes but they’ve still got a few players that cost a few quid.

Apparently Blackburn’s changes are down to an outbreak of illness.

“Is it not typical of the current increasing disrespect of the FA Cup that BBC 5 Live are currently covering some ‘meaningful vote’ rather than the far more important task of a proper build up of this fascinating Third Round tie? The game has gone,” rages Jonathan Denness. Meaningful vote? Is it the X Factor final?

Thinking about the team changes for tonight’s game, I wonder why some clubs enter the competition at all (and I’m not only, or even mainly, thinking of Newcastle or Blackburn here). I don’t think entry into the FA Cup is automatic: every club must apply for their place. It’s not even free: it costs £75 to do so. Why bother, if you’re only going to make 10 changes and get knocked out at the earliest opportunity? And when was the last time a top-level club chose not to play in it?

Here’s the Press Association’s take on the teams:

Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez made eight changes to his starting line-up for the FA Cup third-round replay against Blackburn at Ewood Park.

Matt Ritchie, Sean Longstaff and Ciaran Clark were the only survivors from the team that had started Saturday’s 2-1 Premier League loss at Chelsea. Winger Callum Roberts was handed his first Newcastle appearance since making his debut in January 2015.

Blackburn’s XI showed five adjustments from their 2-0 Championship win at Millwall, with former Newcastle striker Adam Armstrong among those brought into the side by Tony Mowbray.

Some random pre-match reading for you. Nothing to do with this game, either team or the FA Cup, but I wrote it and here it is:

That is, I believe, five changes for Blackburn, eight for Newcastle.

Team news is in, and this is it:

Blackburn: Raya, Nyambe, Lenihan, Travis, Bell, Bennett, Reed, Smallwood, Armstrong, Brereton, Graham. Subs: Rothwell, Leutwiler, Dack, Nuttall, Conway, Butterworth, Grayson.
Newcastle: Woodman, Sterry, Fernandez, Schar, Clark, Manquillo, Ritchie, Longstaff, Roberts, Murphy, Joselu. Subs: Lascelles, Rondon, Hayden, Perez, Yedlin, Harker, Atsu.
Referee: Lee Probert.

“We just have to prepare ourselves for everything in this game because we are not sure on what is coming,” said Blackburn’s Tony Mowbray about tonight’s test. With Newcastle having changed , eight players and a formation for the first meeting at St James’ Park, nobody but Rafa Benítez and his team knows what kind of side he is likely to put out tonight. “It will be the same idea,” said the Spaniard. “We will look to protect some players and provide some balance. We will try to find the balance with those who played the other day and those who will give us fresh legs.”

Newcastle play Cardiff at home on Saturday, an enormously important game for the Premier League’s 18th-placed side, particularly as they have lost to Manchester United and Chelsea in their last two league games and face Manchester City and Tottenham after Neil Warnock’s men. Their focus will surely be on maximising their chances of taking three points from that fixture. “If it was my decision, you might want to win a game and go into Cardiff at home on the back of a win with your centre forward scoring a goal and keeping a clean sheet,” said Mowbray. “Or you might send the kids and not worry about the result and focus on trying to beat Cardiff.”

The fact that Benítez has declared that, outside the top six, the only clubs with a chance of winning the Cup are “teams in the middle of the table because they can have a go because they are safe” suggests he’ll go for Option B. He has included Cal Roberts (a 21-year-old winger) and Sean Longstaff (a 21-year-old midfielder), two players who have yet to feature in his first team, in his squad, along perhaps with a few more surprises.

A home game against Watford’s second string in round four is at stake. Kick-off is a 7.45pm GMT. Welcome, and here’s a little reminder of what happened in the first meeting: