Eddie Howe "almost swerved off the road" after finding out the opponent of Newcastle in the FA Cup quarter-final
Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe was brutally honest when he was asked about the opponent of his team in their FA Cup quarter-final. The Magpies will be travelling to the Etihad to face the defending champions Manchester City. It will be the fourth time this season Eddie Howe will face Pep Guardiola with the former getting the better of the latter once in the Carabao Cup. When he was asked about the draw, the Newcastle manager replied,
"I was driving at the time (of the draw) and almost swerved off the road."
- Eddie Howe, Newcastle Manager
Newcastle boss understands that this is not the draw he wanted to have. However, to win the cup, he has to face the defending champions at some point. So he accepted his fate by saying;
"Look, it wasn’t the draw we wanted, that’s for sure. I don’t think any team wants to play Manchester City four times in a season.
- Eddie Howe, Newcastle Manager
But we’re looking forward to the game, and I believe we can beat anybody when we’re at our best. We’ve had three really tight games against them this year.
When you have time to analyse things and go through it like you do mentally, you realise that to win the FA Cup, you probably have to beat Manchester City at some stage in the competition.
That’s been moved forward from our view, and I just think we have to look at it as a game where we have to give everything to try to win. It will be difficult, but we can do it."
Newcastle will face Manchester City on the 16th of March at the Etihad in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. If they can get a win in this game, then Eddie Howe and his men will punch their ticket to the Wembley Stadium for the semi-final clash and the fans of Newcastle will be hoping for that to happen.