League Cup Match Preview: Nottingham Forest vs. Newcastle United

(P.S. €“ I am a Newcastle United fan, so as always my match reports are bias and for the like minded); Having fielded a strong, almost full strength 11 against League One side Scunthorpe last time out, the early word is Toon boss Alan Pardew may rest the majority of his players for tonight's game against tricky Championship outfit Nottingham Forest in the third round of the League cup. Why not an 11 full of first team players again? Well perhaps because we are a few further weeks into the season and more players are showing sides of tiredness or maybe it's simply because tonight's game is not in front of thousands watching at home on their googlebox and the embarrassment of going out against lower opposition will be much less severe given that it isn't being screened anywhere! Word in the North East is that Pardew will rest six or seven players tonight with debuts to be handed out to goalkeeper Rob Elliott (who was signed from Charlton near the end of the window) and if Dan Gosling's groin strain keeps him out, young 19 year old French midfielder Mehdi Abeid. Forgotten man James Perch is rumoured to be playing at centre back for his first game of the new campaign and against the team he left for the Toon, whilst last season's impressive breakthrough sensation Shane Ferguson will likely play at left back with Sylvain Marveaux, who looked energetic and willing against Scunthorpe, replacing a rested Jonas Guttierez on the left wing. Playmaker and French international Hatem Ben Arfa, out for almost a full year since Nigel De Jong almost ended his career in a game at the then Eastlands, will feature for the first time as a fully contracted player (he was on loan at that point but bought, whilst injured, in January). He will probably be on the bench and come on near the end, perhaps starting the Blackburn Rovers Premier League tie on Saturday instead of this one. Yellow card prone powerhouse Cheik Tiote is likely to be completely rested from Carling Cup action tonight and I imagine Shola Ameobi will be rested in place of Demba Ba. The versatile Peter Lovenkrands is sure to play somewhere (either in midfield or up front) and we might even see a first start from Sammy Ameobi, whose solo effort got Newcastle safe passage into this round and avoiding the roll of the dice that is penalties. Injured for Newcastle are Davide Santon (knee), Alan Smith (hamstring - once again being unavailable for work but still picking up his extraordinary pay packet), Mike Williamson (ankle), Haris Vuckic (hand). Michael Richardson is cup-tied. Tonight's game should be particularly tough for Newcastle and they will remember the 1-0 defeat they suffered at the City Ground in their Championship meeting two seasons ago but boss Steve McClaren is under huge pressure right now having won just once in the last seven league outings. The club have just 5 points this season and are in the bottom three of the league, suffering a shocking 2-1 defeat against local rivals Derby County despite holding a 1-0 lead against 10 men. Meanwhile Newcastle, despite a bunch of tough ties this season, are unbeaten. Prediction - 0 - 2 - Tight game but I think Newcastle's Premier League quality will show towards the end and they will make the breakthroughs they need for progression to the next round. Nottingham Forest vs. Newcastle United is a 7.45pm kick off tonight and is non-televised game.