Newcastle United have a great looking chance to progress into the fifth round of the FA Cup when they host Oxford United at St James’ Park on Saturday afternoon, an outing in which they could hand a debut to two signings, according to BBC Sport.
The Magpies recently brought in Nabil Bentaleb and Valentino Lazaro, and the pair could well feature for the first time against the League One outfit.
It is well known that Newcastle are suffering with a number of injuries at the present time, but despite that manager Steve Bruce has confirmed he intends to play as strong a side as possible, in front of what is a sold out St James’ Park for the contest.
Schalke midfielder Bentaleb and Inter Milan winger Lazaro have been brought in to provide extra numbers for a competitive stage of the campaign, and both may well line up for the Magpies against an Oxford side who have previous in beating the Tyneside outfit, having done so a couple of seasons ago.
Bruce remains without the likes of Jetro Willems and Paul Dummett, who will be on the sidelines for the remainder of this term, leaving Matt Ritchie as the man likely to continue to fill in at left-back.
Newcastle have already faced League One opponents in the FA Cup this season, when Rochdale were their victims in the third round, but they needed a replay to overcome the minnows, and nobody involved with the Tyneside outfit will be looking for a repeat of that with all the injuries they currently have.
Despite some big name absentees in recent times, the Magpies have managed to keep battling for positive results, and will go into the clash with Oxford in good spirits after rescuing a point against Everton in midweek from a seemingly impossible position.
