Botman out for Birmingham FA Cup tie, says Howe | OneFootball

The Magpies head into the cup tie after reaching the Carabao Cup final on Wednesday night following a 2-0 win against Arsenal in the semi-final second leg at St. James' Park, beating the Gunners 4-0 on aggregate to secure a final showdown against Liverpool at Wembley Stadium.

United face the Blues, who occupy top spot in League One and are currently unbeaten on home soil since August, and Howe revealed Botman will be unavailable for the trip to the West Midlands due to injury as well as addressing his thoughts on learning next month's Carabao Cup final opponents.

Here are some of the boss' main talking points from Friday morning's pre-match media briefing at the Newcastle United Media Centre...

On facing Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final, which will take place on Sunday, 16th March:

"We have a great game lined up. Whoever we were going to face, it was going to be a real challenge. I think the Liverpool game is a mouthwatering tie.

"We are really looking forward to it but we have to put it to bed for the time being and focus on what is immediately ahead of us."

On Sven Botman:

"I don't think he'll be available for this weekend. He has taken a knock to his knee [the opposite one to his ACL injury].

"We don’t believe it is a serious injury but it'll be enough to keep him out of the Birmingham game and we'll then assess him during the week before our next league game."

On squad rotation ahead of facing the League One leaders:

"We will have to [make changes]. Mentally and physically, it would be a difficult ask for the same players to go again and give the same energy as they did in Wednesday's game.

"We don’t have a huge squad in terms of depth, especially with the injuries we picked up with Sven and Joelinton out but we will pick a team that is strong enough to win and we will give opportunities to other players but they need to take their chance."

On the FA Cup:

“It is a very important competition. We enjoyed the run we had last year until we met Manchester City [in the quarter-finals]. We did well in both cup competitions last year and we want to try and go as far as we can in the FA Cup.

"We know this will be a difficult game. Birmingham's league form has been very strong and they have a long unbeaten run, only losing once at home which was against a Premier League team. It is going to be a good test for us and a real test of our strength.”

On the test of Birmingham City:

"Every time you go to Birmingham, you realise the size of the club. It is a huge football club with a brilliant supporter base. It is a really good ground to play at and I've always enjoyed the atmosphere.

"We respect them and Chris Davies has done a brilliant job going in there and building a team that looks like it's ready for promotion back into the Championship.

"We see this as a big challenge, and we need to rise to the challenge. They are a very aggressive, a high pressing team, we cannot underestimate them in any way.”