Newcastle United will be looking to pick up some momentum on Wednesday night when they face Nottingham Forest in the second round of the Carabao Cup.

Rafa Benitez is expected to make changes to his starting line-up from Sunday's 1-2 defeat to Chelsea, with players such as Yoshinori Muto, Karl Darlow, Christian Atsu and Kenedy all expected to start for the Magpies.

Both teams in need of the win

Forest have only won one game in the league this season when they beat Reading 1-0 and they needed penalties to knock out league two side Bury in the first round.

Benitez will be desperate to get his first win of the season and to set up a good cup run for the Geordies this season to give them something to look forward to.

Forest have struggled defensively this season conceding seven goals in six games and only keeping one clean sheet in seven games, this should give Newcastle the confidence to attack from the beginning and progress to the next round.

Familiar faces

Both sides will have familiar faces in their squads on Wednesday night with ex-Newcastle striker Daryl Murphy proving to still be an excellent Championship striker for Forest scoring the equaliser against Birmingham in their last game.

Captain Jamaal Lascelles has been ruled with an ankle injury, but fellow ex-forest 'keeper Darlow is likely to start for Newcastle.

The last time Darlow played at the City Ground he saved two penalties in one game as Newcastle lost to a last-minute Lascelles own goal after having Jonjo Shelvey and Paul Dummett both sent off.

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Potential debuts

With Benitez confirming that a cup competition isn't the clubs main focus this season and that staying in the Premier League is the aim for the season it is likely that the Spaniard may give debuts to some of the under 23s who have shown promise in pre-season and this season so far.

Sean Longstaff and Callum Roberts were both not included in the matchday squad for the under 23s game against Wolves yesterday it seems like they may be given their first-team debuts, as well as Muto who is yet to start a game for Newcastle this season.

If the pair were to start it would demonstrate the faith Benitez has in both of them and we could expect to see them feature more as the season goes on if they impress the manager.

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