Source: PA
Hughton relishing Arsenal cup challenge
Newcastle boss Chris Hughton is determined to condemn Arsenal to the same fate as Chelsea as the Magpies attempt to reach the Carling Cup quarter-finals.
Hughton will make changes for the fourth-round clash at St James' Park with one eye on Sunday's derby encounter against arch-rivals Sunderland. However, he did the same for the third round trip to Stamford Bridge and emerged with a 4-3 victory after Shola Ameobi's late header sealed a seven-goal thriller.
Hughton freely admits that Barclays Premier League survival is his club's overwhelming priority this season, and their prospects of achieving that look an awful lot brighter in the wake of Saturday's 2-1 win at West Ham. However, progress in the League Cup would be a welcome bonus as he attempts to re-establish the momentum which served the club so well in their promotion campaign last season.
Hughton said: "It's exciting in every round. We went to Accrington in our first game - I had been to watch a game there, but never played there and most of the players had never played there, so that was something new and exciting in itself.
"To go to Stamford Bridge was always going to be tough, but it was a really exciting day in front of a full house at Stamford Bridge, and you couldn't have got a more exciting game than that. Now the fact that we are playing Arsenal, albeit that Arsenal will, I am quite sure, make several changes, as we will, it's exciting in every round.
"I am appreciative that it is a very big game for us. It's a game we want to give the respect it deserves, and it's a competition we very much want to stay in. But I have a responsibility to look after the best interests of the squad and the club, and I will be making some changes."
