Birmingham City look to cause a giant killing against Newcastle United in the fourth round of 2024-25 FA Cup.
Victory would see Birmingham reach the fifth round for the first time since 2019-20 season, whilst Newcastle look to reach the last 16 in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2004-05 & 05-06 seasons.
Team News
Birmingham have no fresh injury concerns to report ahead of this tie
Newcastle will be without Sven Botman after he suffered a minor knee injury in their Carabao Cup win over Arsenal in midweek.
Harvey Barnes (thigh), Joelinton and Jamaal Lascelles (both knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Birmingham host Newcastle at St Andrew’s on Saturday 8 February in a 5:45pm GMT kick-off, live on BBC One in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Birmingham have won one of their three previous FA Cup ties against Newcastle (W1, L2), although all three ties went to replays after the original fixtures finished in draws at the Blues
- Newcastle have drawn all three previous FA Cup visits to Birmingham (D3), of which two of those three draws were 2-2 results and the other finished in a 1-1 draw.
- Both teams have scored in five of their six previous FA Cup clashes except for a 3-0 home win for Newcastle in their first replay in March 1906.
- Four of Birmingham’s five goals in this season’s FA Cup came in the first half (W3).
- Newcastle are unbeaten in four of their last five FA Cup away ties to EFL opposition (W4, L1), although they needed a home replay to beat Rochdale in January 2020 then penalties at Blackburn last season after 1-1 draw.
Prediction
Unbeaten in their last 18 matches across all competitions, Birmingham certainly can’t be underestimated coming into this tie but they’re coming up against their toughest competition yet this season, which will be arguably a proper test of their current quality.
Newcastle clinically dispatched Arsenal in a well-executed tactical display but they now must put that performance behind them and focus on the task in hand, especially after their first-half struggles in the last round against Bromley before cruising to a comfortable second-half win.
Although Birmingham will produce a resilient fight with in-form Jay Stansfield looking a particular threat, Newcastle really should come through this game even if they have to weather early pressure from the Blues.
Prediction: Birmingham 1-2 Newcastle
Result: Birmingham 2-3 Newcastle