Newcastle United are set to resume their Carabao Cup campaign as they host Brentford in the quarter-final at St. James' Park on Wednesday night.
The Magpies, fresh from a 4-0 Premier League victory over Leicester City, will be looking to continue their winning momentum against the Bees. Despite Chelsea's recent triumph over Brentford, Thomas Frank's side have had a challenging season away from home, making this no easy task for Eddie Howe's men.
For those interested in catching the action, Sky Sports+ will be broadcasting the match live from kick-off at 7.45pm GMT, with streaming available on the Sky Go app for subscribers. For US viewers, the match can be streamed live on Paramount+.
Fans keen to catch the action from the Carabao Cup quarter-finals will find highlights available on YouTube shortly after each game finishes, courtesy of the Sky Sports Football channel. Both Newcastle and Brentford are also set to share highlight reels on their respective social media platforms.
As Newcastle prepare for the clash, manager Eddie Howe has made it clear that he's targeting trophies, saying: "Well you're right in the respect that that is what we're here [to win trophies], that's what I made it very clear when I came to Newcastle.", reports Chronicle Live.
Emboldened by the ambition to succeed, Howe speaks not only for himself but for his squad and coaching team when he acknowledges the significance of reaching this stage in the competition and their collective hunger for victory: "I know I speak on behalf of the players and coaching staff in that respect, so when you get to this part of the competition we recognise that's our goal and what we're trying to do. It's not easy to do, as everyone knows, but these games take huge importance."
Turning his attention to European football, Howe reveals that there hasn't been a recalibration of expectations within the team. "I don't think we've necessarily had those conversations. I don't think a lowering of expectations has happened internally. There hasn't been one moment where we've gone, 'we can't do this or we can't achieve that'."
Howe remains a staunch advocate for maintaining a high-reaching outlook, never wanting to signal to his players any diminished ambition: "I don't think that's healthy either. From my viewpoint, would not encourage that from an internal perspective either because your players will soon pick up if you're not ambitious or think something is not possible. I always like to think the impossible is possible, especially with my players."
The boss said: "I push them to believe we can achieve anything. In saying that, there has to be some kind of realistic expectation externally, because the external expectation will harm us internally."
"The external view from media and everyone alike has to be moulded around our reality. Our reality has been very different in the last two transfer windows."
