Birmingham City vs Newcastle United team news: Davies and Howe name lineups in FA Cup

Kick-off is fast approaching for this evening’s FA Cup fourth round clash at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park.

League One leaders Birmingham play host to Premier League top four hopefuls Newcastle United under the lights in what is one of the most highly-anticipated fixtures of the round.

Commencing battle for a spot in the fifth phase of the world’s oldest cup competition, both Blues and the Magpies will be desperate for a positive result. Newcastle are undoubtedly the favourites but Birmingham are unbeaten on home soil this campaign and will be confident they can cause a famous upset.

Blues boss Chris Davies has opted for five changes from the starting XI that beat Stevenage 2-1 away from home in the Vertu Trophy quarter-final midweek. Krystian Bielik, Grant Hantley, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Luke Harris and Alfie May make way for Ethan Laird, Ben Davies, Tomoki Iwata, Kieran Dowell and Jay Stansfield.

Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe, meanwhile, has swapped out nine of the players who started Wednesday’s 2-0 victory over Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final. The Toon’s bench is incredibly strong, with the likes of Alexander Isak, Sandro Tonali, Lewis Hall, Jacob Murphy, Fabian Schar and Kieran Trippier all available as substitutes. Former Blues goalkeeper John Ruddy is also in the away matchday squad.

Birmingham vs Newcastle lineups

Without further ado, here are the two teams in full.

Blues XI: Peacock-Farrell; Laird, Klarer, Davies, Cochrane; Iwata, Leonard; Wright, Dowell, Anderson; Stansfield.

Blues subs: Allsop (GK), Bielik, Hanley, Sampsted, Harris, Willumsson, Dykes, May, Jutkiewicz.

Newcastle XI: Pope (GK); Livramento, Krafth, Burn, Targett; Miley, Bruno; Longstaff; Willock, Osula, Wilson.

Newcastle subs: Dubravka (GK), Ruddy (GK), Trippier, Schar, Tonali, Isak, Hall, Murphy, Neave.