Newcastle United vs Oxford United preview: A rare prize of the FA Cup fifth round at stake

Newcastle will be looking to advance to the competition's fifth round for the first time in 14 years, whilst their visitors will want a repeat of their demolition job of the Magpies in 2017.

ROCHDALE, ENGLAND - JANUARY 04: Miguel Almiron of Newcastle United celebrates with teammate Joelinton after scoring his team's first goal during the FA Cup Third Round match between Rochdale AFC and Newcastle United at Spotland Stadium on January 04, 2020 in Rochdale, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

By Alex Storey25 January 2020 00:49 BST

Since Steve Bruce walked through the door last summer, he made it clear he wanted to give the cups a good go, and give fans on Tyneside something to shout about.

That optimism didn't last long in the Carabao Cup when his side were knocked out at home to Leicester City on penalties, but the reality was that night that they had played well and were quite unlucky.

But after breezing past Rochdale (albeit via a replay), it's another League One opposition that stands in Newcastle United's way of reaching the fifth round.

Mixed news on injuries for Magpies

It wouldn't be Newcastle if they didn't pick up an injury in almost every game they play.

Emile Krafth became the latest victim against Everton on Tuesday night, coming off second best during a tackle that will rule him out for six weeks with an ankle problem.

The hero of Goodison Park, Florian Lejeune, injured his groin during the heroic goalmouth scramble in the dying seconds.

In better news though, Allan Saint-Maximin is expected to be fit enough to play a part and DeAndre Yedlin is edging closer, whilst Andy Carroll is unlikely to feature.

Newboy Nabil Bentaleb is in contention to play, whilst Valentino Lazaro didn't sign in time, but both will give the Magpies a boost in numbers.

The visitors were last on the St James' Park turf in the 1992/93 season when goals from Andy Cole and Lee Clark secured the win in the old Division One.

The U's last won away to Newcastle in 1989/90 but produced a fine win over Rafa Benitez' Newcastle in 2017 at the Kassam Stadium.

It was a weakened team that day for the Magpies, and they were made to pay for it in a 3-0 defeat that summed up the relationship between the FA Cup and Newcastle United - a love-hate one devoid of love.

The manager's view

With almost 4,000 supporters in the gods cheering on his side, Oxford boss Karl Robinson was in a good mood ahead of Saturday's fixture.

Their first half of the season brought success, currently sitting in fifth place of League One.

He told his official club's website: "It will be our biggest crowd since the 1980s and whatever the rest of the season has in store for us we have certainly ticked a lot of boxes already.

"It's one of the best grounds in the country and we won't change the way we play.

"Newcastle will find weaknesses in it which we can rectify going forward but if you have a style why change it?

"We will certainly go there to play and we know the quality of the opposition is so high technically, tactically and physically, but we are looking forward to it."

Wary of a potential upset, Steve Bruce spoke to the media this morning.

"I'll play as strong as I can to get through to the next round, which I said as soon as I walked through the door.

"As I said, can we go and have a cup run? We've got a wonderful opportunity but we have to respect Oxford who turned us over (in 2017) and as we've seen again last night (Tranmere Rovers beating Watford).

"The city would love nothing more than a cup run, let's see if we can get past it and be in the last 16.

"We're not going to win the Premier League, but we're a Premier League team who can win the FA Cup."