Newcastle United break two records and suffer injury blow as Crystal Palace get a slice of karma – moments missed

A fresh injury blow for Newcastle United

When the teams were announced at 6:45pm, there were two notable absentees from Eddie Howe’s Newcastle line-up. The Magpies boss made eight changes to the side that won 4-1 at Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday.

Callum Wilson was rested as expected following a minor illness that saw him withdrawn at half-time at St Mary's. The striker is expected to be fit to start against Chelsea at St James’s Park this Saturday (5:30pm kick-off).

But the absence of Ryan Fraser from the matchday squad sparked questions. The Scottish international had trained ahead of the match with Eddie Howe stating in his pre-match press conference that he was not aware of any fresh injuries in his squad.

Yet after the match, Howe explained that Fraser missed the match due to a calf injury.

“Ryan’s got a calf problem,” he said. “Not sure how serious that is.”

The biggest cheers of the night (inside 90 minutes)

Much like the Premier League encounter between the sides in September, this cup tie was proving to be a dull affair with a lack of action at either end of the field.

There was no VAR controversy this time around, but as Newcastle’s starting XI struggled to impose themselves on the game, substitutes Kieran Trippier, Sven Botman, Bruno Guimaraes and Miguel Almiron all warmed up on the touchline in the first half, sparking the biggest cheer of the night until that point.

And with 25-minutes remaining, Howe made arguably one of the strongest triple substitutions in Newcastle history as he introduced Trippier, Botman and Guimaraes from the bench. The change energised the crowd and energised Newcastle into getting on the front foot in pursuit of a winning goal.

Almiron’s introduction late on also added another dimension to United’s attack as the Paraguayan almost scored for the fifth consecutive match just moments after his introduction only to be denied by Sam Johnstone in the Palace goal.

Crystal Palace fans taunt Allan Saint-Maximin

Allan Saint-Maximin’s first start since August added a small spark to Newcastle’s otherwise lacklustre attacking display at St James’s Park. In the first half, the Frenchman looked to have gone through on goal only to be denied by the offside flag.

In the aftermath, the travelling Palace fans taunted the 25-year-old by chanting ‘you’re just a s*** Wilfried Zaha’ in his direction. Zaha, Palace’s top scorer so far this season, didn’t travel to the North East on Wednesday evening.

A club record attendance

A crowd of 51,660 attended the Carabao Cup third round match at St James's Park on Wednesday night – smashing a 46-year attendance record.

Prior to the match, Newcastle’s largest League Cup home attendance was 49,902 which was set during the 3-1 semi-final second leg win over Tottenham Hotspur in January 1976. Newcastle went on to face Manchester City at Wembley Stadium in what remains their only League Cup final appearance to date as they lost the match 2-1.

The record set on Wednesday night could well be broken again should Newcastle get another home draw in the latter stages of the competition.

A press box with a difference

The Carabao Cup match saw the worlds of fan media and professional media collide as the club invited several established fan media channels to attend the match in the press area.

Olly Hawkins from NUFC Blog, Matthew Renton of The Magpie Channel and Adam Pearson were just a few of the supporters in attendance as they watched the match from the press box before taking in Eddie Howe’s post match press conference.

It is the first time the club has ever invited Newcastle content creators to work alongside journalists in the press area during a match.

Describing the matchday media experience, Adam Pearson said: “Probably one of the best moments ever experience wise for my channel.

"It’s crazy how good the view is in the media area. Unfortunately we couldn’t ask Eddie Howe any questions directly but afterwards we all took pictures with Eddie Howe, that was amazing.

“It was a great experience, I thoroughly loved it and it was amazing for the club to offer content creators such a great opportunity so a massive thanks to the club, certainly one to tell the grandkids!”

A first penalty shootout win at St James’s Park

On the eve of the England World Cup squad announcement, Newcastle’s Nick Pope will have certainly planted a seed in the head of Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate regarding potential penalty shootout situations in the upcoming tournament in Qatar.

The England goalkeeper was in fine form during the shootout as he made three saves to deny Luka Milivojevic, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Malcolm Ebiowei from 12-yards. Chris Wood, Trippier and Joelinton scored for The Magpies while Botman saw his effort saved and Guimaraes skied his penalty over the crossbar.

Newcastle’s 3-2 shootout win is only the third in the club's history and the first at St James’s Park. The record crowd may not have got to experience much of a spectacle in terms of the match, but they witnessed history as Howe’s side progressed to the last-16.

Crystal Palace’s karma

Pope has emerged as a cult hero at Newcastle since signing for the club from Burnley in the summer. Back in August, the goalkeeper trended worldwide on Twitter with thousands of accounts tweeting his name, including Crystal Palace’s official Twitter page.

The Eagles posted an old video of Zaha beating Pope at his near post to score along with the caption ‘Nick Pope’.

Not one to let Palace get away with such disrespect, Newcastle’s account finally responded to the tweet with three photos of Pope’s penalty saves against them on Wednesday evening. The caption was, of course, ‘Nick Pope’.