Tottenham Hotspur

Our interest in this season’s Carabao Cup ended at the hands of holders Newcastle United on Wednesday evening.

A goal in each half from Fabian Schar and Nick Woltemade gave the Magpies a 2-0 fourth-round win on a difficult night for us at St James’ Park where, although we had more possession and more shots on target than our hosts, we didn’t really get going.

Thomas Frank made four changes to the team that started at Everton on Sunday. Antonin Kinsky was in goal with Lucas Bergvall and Pape Matar Sarr in midfield and Richarlison up front. Guglielmo Vicario was rested with Mohammed Kudus, Micky van de Ven and Randal Kolo Muani all on the bench.

We found it difficult to negotiate the opening stages as Newcastle came out strong and carved out a series of chances. First, Malick Thiaw’s header forced Kinsky into a save at his near post before, on eight minutes, Jacob Ramsey skipped past a couple of challenges inside the box only for Pedro Porro to get a great block on his eventual shot. Four minutes later, Anthony Elanga found Woltemade, who produced a neat turn and then fed Harvey Barnes in the inside left channel but his right-footed effort hit the side-netting. We were under pressure and the opening goal came on 24 minutes although it was straight-forward enough, Tonali’s corner headed home by Schar.

The goal sparked us into life though and we were the better side leading up to half-time. A lovely move on 32 minutes saw Pedro Porro play forward to Brennan Johnson whose header released Bergvall and his ball across goal looked like it was going to find Richarlison, only to go just behind him. Then, moments later, a Bergvall pass to the back post was too far in front of the Brazilian forward as he slid in to try to score.

Kevin Danso then had our first shot on target from distance but it was straight at Aaron Ramsdale before another glorious chance fell to the hosts, Tonali with a lovely ball to the far post which Thiaw failed to connect properly with although the ball then bounced up for Barnes who clipped the crossbar with an acrobatic effort from six yards out. The half ended with Richarlison sending a header straight at Ramsdale and Xavi Simons firing just over the bar from 20 yards out, giving us hope of turning things around after the break.

It was the Magpies with the first big chance of the second half though, Barnes floating over a cross which found Joe Willock eight yards out but he got his header all wrong as it drifted harmlessly wide. Moments later, however, Willock sent another cross into the area and this time Woltemade got up ahead of Kinsky to send a header bouncing into an empty net.

We almost pulled one back on the hour mark after Johnson found Simons in the box, he held it up and laid off to Sarr whose controlled shot was heading for the bottom corner until Ramsdale made a fine diving save to push it away. The Newcastle keeper then denied Richarlison’s flick from Pedro Porro’s cross as we continued to search for a way back into the contest but we couldn’t mount any real sustained pressure on the home side’s goal and the game drifted away in the final minutes.

We can now confirm the starting XI and substitutes for tonight's Carabao Cup fourth round tie with Newcastle United (8pm).

Thomas Frank has made four changes to the side that started Sunday's 3-0 win over Everton.

Antonin Kinsky comes in for his second start of the season, keeping his place in goal in this competition following our 3-0 win over Doncaster in the third round.

Pape Matar Sarr also returns to the starting XI, as do Lucas Bergvall and Richarlison, with Micky van de Ven, Mohammed Kudus and Randal Kolo Muani beginning the game on the substitutes bench.

Academy goalkeeper Luca Gunter and defender James Rowswell makes their first appearances in a senior matchday squad with the pair named amongst our substitutes.

Starting XI: Kinsky, Danso, Palhinha, Xavi, Richarlison, Bergvall, Johnson, Porro (c), Spence, Sarr, Bentancur.

Substitutes: Austin, Gunter, Tel, Kudus, van de Ven, Kolo Muani, Scarlett, Olusesi, Rowswell.

"Newcastle United are the Carabao Cup holders and come into this after four wins in five games. How have they coped without Alexander Isak and will Thomas Frank, as he did at Everton, produce another surprise tactical tweak?"

Rob Daly, official club commentator, presenter and pundit

Replacing Isak...

Nick Woltemade has handled the rigours of Premier League football well, as he attempts to replace last season’s 27-goal striker Isak, now at Liverpool. Woltemade’s 6 foot 6 height is an obvious asset, as seen with his headed goals against Wolves and Arsenal. But there’s more to him than that, evident by his wonderful backheel goal at Brighton recently and the way he starred at the European Under-21 Championships for Germany. While finishing as the competition’s top scorer, he also showed real quality with his strength, skill and the ability to link play as they reached the final, with smart touches that drew Dimitar Berbatov comparisons. Fulham got extremely physical with him in their 2-1 defeat on Saturday, with Eddie Howe saying some of the challenges on him 'were fouls that weren't given... I think Nick felt the same way' but the Newcastle boss added, 'Nick is going to have to come up with all sorts of different challenges from defenders... some might go aggressive, some might go a little bit more withdrawn and he needs to find a solution to figure out how best to play against that, and we'll help him with that'.

Many wide threats...

Regardless, the summer signing from Stuttgart is a perfect foil to work the ball into Newcastle’s quick wingers. You only need to see the way Woltemade linked with Anthony Gordon to eventually thread the ball into Harvey Barnes for one of two breakaway goals in the 3-0 win over Benfica last week. Their opener that night in the Champions League involved Jacob Murphy who was played into the right channel before whipping in a low cross to Gordon to tap in. Murphy was also on the scoresheet himself at the weekend as Newcastle beat Fulham, scoring the opener by dispossessing Calvin Bassey near the halfway line and racing through to beat Bernd Leno. £55m was spent on winger Anthony Elanga from Nottingham Forest and, while a wait for a first goal for the club goes on, only Mo Salah (18) and Murphy (12) had more than his 11 Premier league assists last season.

How much will Newcastle rotate?

While Eddie Howe made seven changes for their win in the last round against Bradford, bringing in Aaron Ramsdale, Emil Krafth and Lewis Miley amongst others, I think we can anticipate a strong line up from Newcastle tonight. Perhaps a better indicator is how he approached last season’s fourth round home encounter with Chelsea. Five changes were made but Newcastle still started Nick Pope, Fabian Schar, Joelinton, Sandro Tonali, Gordon and Isak. "It is important for this game to make the right decision - we want to progress. The competition means a lot to us, we are current holders, we don't want to give that up easily,” said Howe on potential changes. "However, I have a squad, I need to try and get the balance right... there are players who need the football."

Surprise tactics at Everton...

Thomas Frank surprised many with his tactics at Everton on Sunday as Spurs won 3-0. Out of possession, the team set up in a 4-4-2 shape, with Mohammed Kudus playing centrally alongside Randal Kolo Muani, with Xavi Simons out wide. But for some spells in possession, Spurs looked almost 3-2-4-1 with Djed Spence the most advanced player out on the left, allowing Xavi to move centrally, while Brennan Johnson hugged the right touchline. “I think I sometimes try to change it a little bit, tweak it a little bit in the game. I wanted to have Brennan Johnson, who's very good from the right - his ability to run in behind and produce crosses as well,” explained Thomas. “Having Kudus a little bit more in the middle together with Xavi could create a little bit of an overload.” The Spurs boss also explained he plans to have 'a little bit of rotation' tonight, as has been seen in the Champions League - meaning players like Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Wilson Odobert, Mathys Tel and Richarlison may hope for a recall in the North East.

Last time we met...

We make the journey to the north east to take on holders Newcastle United in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup this evening.

The Magpies, 12th in the Premier League, defeated Bradford City 4-1 at St James’ Park in the last round, while we saw off Doncaster Rovers 3-0 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Here’s everything you need to know...

What time does the match start?

The game begins at 8pm UK time.

Will there be extra time and penalties?

If the scores are level after 90 minutes, there will be no extra time, so the tie will go straight to a penalty shootout to determine who advances to round five.

How can I watch the game?

Tonight’s tie will be shown live in the UK on ITV1 and also on Sky Sports Main Event.

Visit our Spurs on TV page if you’re following us from overseas to see if the game is live in your area.

As ever, our Match Centre here on tottenhamhotspur.com and the Spurs Official app will bring you full live text and audio commentary throughout the match.

Video highlights will be available on club channels on Thursday.

What is the team news?

Thomas Frank has no fresh injury concerns from Sunday’s 3-0 victory at Everton in the Premier League.

That means Cristian Romero, Destiny Udogie, Dominic Solanke, Yves Bissouma, Ben Davies, Radu Dragusin, Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Kota Takai are still sidelined.

It remains to be seen if Thomas will rotate the team in certain areas with the games coming thick and fast.

Sven Botman will be assessed for Newcastle over a cut to the head but Lewis Hall remains out for the hosts.

Who is the referee?

Chris Kavanagh will take charge of tonight’s tie.

He will be assisted by Dan Cook and Richard West, with Dean Whitestone as the fourth official.

Which kit colours will the teams be wearing?

Newcastle will wear their usual black and white striped shirts with black shorts and black socks.

We’ll therefore change to our all-yellow third kit for the first time this season in a men’s first team game.

The goalkeepers will be in blue for Newcastle and orange for us.

Starting tonight, our match shirts during this period of Remembrance will feature a Poppy and will be available for auction afterwards, with proceeds going to the Royal British Legion as the club continues to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country.

What will the weather be like?

It’s due to stay dry in Newcastle today but it’ll feel chilly come this evening. It’ll be cloudy with light winds, with temperatures at around seven degrees during the game.

What is the travel information?

Supporters going to St James’ Park should take note of our travel advice bulletin here.

Lize Kop helped the Netherlands to a 1-0 victory over Canada and claimed another clean sheet on a busy Tuesday night of action for our players.

Continuing in the starting line-up for the Dutch, having preserved a clean sheet in last week’s outing against Poland, our shot stopper was on hand once again to keep out the Canadians in Nijmegen.

That was the 27-year-old’s 16th cap for her nation in a positive international camp for her.

As previously mentioned, Martha Thomas stepped off the bench to set up Scotland’s third goal in their 4-3 defeat to Switzerland. The forward was introduced just after the hour mark before setting up Caroline Weir's goal in the third minute of stoppage time.

Elsewhere, Toko Koga’s Japan suffered a 2-0 defeat to Cathinka Tandberg’s Norway in Spain. The central started the game and completed 45 minutes before making way at the break, while ‘Tinka’ was an unused substitute for Norway.

Clare Hunt and Charlotte Grant both featured for Australia as they were defeated 3-0 by England at Derby County’s Pride Park.

Clare started and completed the full match for the Matildas while ‘Charli’ was introduced in the 70th-minute, replacing Steph Catley for the final 20 minutes. Jess Naz was an unused substitute for the Lionesses.

Martha Thomas marked her 50th cap for Scotland by stepping off the bench to set up their third goal in the 4-3 defeat to Switzerland in an international friendly on Tuesday evening.

The forward replaced Kathleen McGovern, who had scored the opening goal for the Scots to cancel out Switzerland’s opener, in the 62nd minute and in stoppage time, after good work down the right-hand side, she teed up Caroline Weir inside the box for her to calmly slot away and cut the deficit to just one.

Unfortunately it was too little, too late for Martha and her nation as the Swiss held on to secure the victory at East End Park in Dunfermline.

After McGovern cancelled out Sydney Schertenleib’s opener, Iman Beney fired the away side back into the lead four minutes before the break but they were pegged back once again in the second minute of injury time after Geraldine Reuteler own goal.

Schnertenleib then grabbed her second of the evening in the second period before Smilla Vallotto gave Switzerland a two-goal advantage heading into the final quarter of the game.

Our Under-21s’ Vertu Trophy campaign came to an end with a 2-2 draw and subsequent penalty shootout defeat at Cheltenham Town on Tuesday night.

Both teams knew they were unable to qualify for the knockout stages before kick-off and were thus left playing solely for pride in Southern Group B – and our depleted side certainly did that, producing some excellent football at times and twice coming back from behind to level through Oli Irow and captain Rio Kyerematen.

The latter’s goal came just a minute from time as we avoided what would have been a harsh defeat in normal time to claim a thoroughly-deserved share of the spoils in Gloucestershire, but after both he and Leo Black were denied from the spot by Joe Day and Reiss Russell-Denny fired over the bar, it was the League Two hosts who triumphed 3-1 in the resulting penalty shootout to claim the extra point on offer.

More to follow.

Dominic Solanke teamed up with our Foundation to highlight the importance of mental health during a workshop for local students.

Our Foundation was delivering the Movember Ahead of the Game programme that aims to build mental resilience among young people.

The forward took part in an interactive workshop and Q&A session at Lea Valley Academy in Enfield, alongside content creator and lifelong Spurs fan Danny Aarons.

Dom said: “The workshop put on by Spurs Foundation was fantastic. It was so good to see the kids learning about such an important topic as no doubt later in life some of them will have their own struggles, as many of us adults do.

“The stat from Movember is that 75% of mental health disorders will have emerged by the age of 24, so it’s important they know there’s always someone to talk to and that a lot of people do struggle.”

Danny added: “It was such a good day – I was locked in and felt like one of the kids! I loved it and I hope the young people loved it, too.

“You always get told to reach out for help, but the important piece that we were taught today was about the importance of continuing to check in afterwards.”

Dom and Danny visited ahead of this year’s annual Movember campaign as it highlights Movember Ahead of the Game to put youth mental health centre stage.

We are proud to offer the groundbreaking early-intervention programme as part of a growing number of initiatives supporting mental health.

Cristian Da Silva, Foundation coach, said: “Sport has always been a powerful tool for building confidence, connection and community among young people. But now more than ever, it plays a vital role in helping boys and young men look after their mental wellbeing.

“Having role models like Dom and Danny speak so openly during our workshop made a huge impact – students left feeling seen, supported and empowered to speak up for themselves and each other.”

Ahead of Wednesday's Carabao Cup fourth round tie with Newcastle United, here is a look at how we have fared at this stage of the competition over the years...

Our League Cup fourth round record

Our visit to St James' park on Wednesday night will be our 37th fourth round tie in the League Cup.

We have progressed in 27 of our 36 such matches to date, losing nine.

We went on to win the competition from four of those 27 victories, lifting the trophy in 1971, 1973, 1999 and 2008.

Interestingly, of our last seven appearances at this stage, we have progressed on five occasions and - in each of those campaigns - have gone on to reach at least the semi-finals.

All bar one of those last five wins has come against Premier League opposition (West Ham 2018/19, Chelsea 2020/21, Burnley 2021/22, Manchester City 2024/25) in the visit of then Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion to White Hart Lane in 2014/15.

Watch - Manchester City dominated in fourth round on 2024/25

Our cup record against Newcastle

This will be just our fourth meeting with Newcastle United in the League Cup.

First meeting them in the semi-finals of the competition in 1976, we have won two of the three encounters to date.

Losing that initial meeting in 1976 as the north east outfit finished up as runners-up in the final to Manchester City, we have since faced them and beaten them twice in the competition, first in the third round of 2008/09 and then in the fifth round of 2014/15.

In September, 2008, goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko and Jamie O'Hara saw us to a 2-1 win at St James' Park before we reached the Wembley final the following March, losing on penalties to Manchester United.

Just six years later, we ran out 4-0 winners over the Magpies in the fifth round at White Hart Lane on route to once again reaching the final - a March showpiece where Chelsea ran out 2-0 winners under the Wembley arch.

So, when Spurs and Newcastle United have played each other in this competition, the victor has reached the final.

Newcastle United's fourth round record

The Geordies boys will be looking to reached at least the quarter-final stage for a fourth consecutive season on Wednesday night.

Holders of the League Cup crown after victory over Liverpool in the 2024/25 campaign, in each of the last three years, Newcastle have managed to get through to the last 16 at least, and that record includes a further final appearance (2022/23).

Prior to their very successful past three terms, Newcastle had reached the quarter-finals just five times in their previous 24 attempts.

They haven't lost a fourth round tie since 2013/14, facing six such games since without defeat.

If we are victorious over Newcastle United on Wednesday night in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup, we'll book our place in the competition's last eight, with the quarter-final draw set to follow shortly afterwards.

Here's everything you need to know...

When is the draw?

The draw takes place live on Sky Sports Main Event following coverage of our round four tie with Newcastle on Wednesday night. The draw will begin approximately at 10.30pm (UK).

What number are we?

The English Football League, the organisers of the Carabao Cup, will confirm finalised ball numbers on Wednesday morning.

Watch | Doncaster dispatched in round three

How does the draw work?

The draw will consist of the eight victorious teams from Tuesday and Wednesday's 16 Carabao Cup fourth round ties.

All eight teams will be represented by a ball displaying a number between one and eight.

All eight balls will be placed into a bowl and mixed before former Spurs man Jamie Redknapp and former Reading midfielder Jobi McAnuff will draw a ball each from the pot, with one drawing the home side before the other draws the away side.

That process will continue until all eight balls are drawn and all four quarter-final ties are finalised.

When do the quarter-finals take place?

All eight quarter-final ties will be played in the week commencing 15 December so, if we reach this stage, the game will be sandwiched between our Premier League trip to Nottingham Forest (Sunday 14 December) and home league clash with Liverpool (Saturday 20 December).

What's our recent record in the third round?

How many times have we won the League Cup?

We've won it four times - 1971, 1973, 1999 and 2008.