watch newcastle vs arsenal carling cup live stream and highlights

Tonight sees a shakeup for the Newcastle starting eleven as manager Chris Hughton is looking to rest certain players who will be vital for Sunday's North East derby between the magpies and Sunderland. Tamas Kadar, Shane Ferguson and Haris Vuckic are rumoured to be up for contention for a place on the pitch but players Sol Campbell, Steven Taylor, Steve Harper, Leon Best, Hatem Ben Arfa and Dan Gosling are all ruled out with injury issues.

Newcastle boss Chris Hughton is focused and eager to hand out the same fate to Arsenal as the magpies did to Chelsea in the last round although he also owns up to the fact that it is consolidating their position in the Barclays Premiership this season that is the club's main focus and they currently have a morale boost and look more likely to achieve that goal on the evidence of their 2-1 win at West Ham at the weekend. Although positive perfomances in the League cup will be a valuble bonus to the team and establish momentum with them going into league fixtures.

Hughton said: "It's exciting in every round. We went to Accrington in our first game - I had been to watch a game there, but never played there and most of the players had never played there, so that was something new and exciting in itself. To go to Stamford Bridge was always going to be tough, but it was a really exciting day in front of a full house at Stamford Bridge, and you couldn't have got a more exciting game than that. Now the fact that we are playing Arsenal, albeit that Arsenal will, I am quite sure, make several changes, as we will, it's exciting in every round. I am appreciative that it is a very big game for us. It's a game we want to give the respect it deserves, and it's a competition we very much want to stay in. But I have a responsibility to look after the best interests of the squad and the club, and I will be making some changes."

By contrast Arsene Wenger will be likely to choose his best eleven for the match. Nicklas Bendtner and Theo Walcott are both back after injury issues while youngsters Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Kieran Gibbs, Henri Lansbury - who scored in the last round at White Hart Lane - and goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny will probably be included again. However Thomas Vermaelen (Achilles), Robin van Persie (ankle), Manuel Almunia (elbow) and Aaron Ramsey (leg) are still sidelined, while England midfielder Jack Wilshere continues to serve a three-match ban.



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