West Brom aim for FA Cup triumph against Newcastle United

Championship outfit West Brom look to eliminate Newcastle out of the FA Cup with the Baggies last reaching the quarter-final stage in 2014/15.

The home side are at the top of the Championship by only one point due to a rare slip-up following their lost at the weekend against Wigan Athletic at the Hawthorns. Sam Morsy scored the only goal of the game to gift Wigan all three points.

In the FA Cup fourth round, the Baggies were able to get past Premier League opposition in the form of West Ham. Conor Townsend scored in the ninth minute of the game and even though West Brom were down to ten men when Semi Ajayi was sent off in the 72nd minute they were able to hold on and secure a place in the fifth round of the cup.

Newcastle were able to get a point out of their game against Burnley at the weekend. A 0-0 draw saw the Magpies escape the drop zone by five points.

The Magpies struggled in the FA Cup against Oxford United as the two teams battled it out in a tightly contested replay which was took to extra-time. Allan Saint-Maximin popped up with a crucial goal to give Newcastle a 3-2 win and a place in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Team news

West Brom will be without centre-back Ahmed Hegazi after he limped off during the Championship defeat by Wigan on Saturday.

The Egypt international joins Grady Diangana (hamstring) and Nathan Ferguson (knee) on the sidelines, while recent signings Callum Robinson and Kamil Grosicki are both cup-tied.

Midfielder Romaine Sawyers will serve the final game of his three-match suspension after being shown a red card in the 3-0 win over Bristol City.

Newcastle manager Bruce has a doubt over French winger Allan Saint-Maximin, who has complained of a sore hamstring and back in recent days.

Wing-back Valentino Lazaro is available after suspension.

West Bromwich Albion boss Slaven Bilic says Tuesday’s FA Cup fifth-round tie against Newcastle is a good test of his side’s Premier League credentials:

“It will be very interesting to see how big the gap is, if anything, in quality,” said Bilic.

“The league positions are a little bit closer mentally – we are at the top of the Championship and we have to compete with a team that’s in the bottom half of the table in the Premier League.

“They are where we want to be, they are one level higher than us. At the same time, they are a team of strengths and weaknesses. They are not a perfect team.

“But Newcastle are dangerous and it’s going to be a good test for us. It will be interesting to see.

“We can progress into the last eight and that would be tremendous. It would help us if that happens. It would boost our confidence in the final Championship games.”

Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce will look to the past in order to try and motivate his men past West Brom and into the quarter-final of the FA Cup:

“We’ve got to 32 points with 10 games to spare. If somebody had told me back in August that would have been the case, I’d have said ‘Thank you very much, I’ll take that’,” said Bruce, who replaced Rafael Benitez in July.

“We’ve got to the fifth round for the first time in years. It’s going to be a big challenge.”

“There’s a big parity, so I’ve been told, with 1974,” he said.

“We played West Brom in 1974 and went there and won two or three-nil, so who knows? I always believe a cup run can give everybody a lift.”

Head-to-head

This is the fifth FA Cup meeting between West Brom and Newcastle and first since the fourth round in 2009-10. All previous four have taken place at The Hawthorns, with the Baggies winning three of them. Newcastle have won two of their past nine away games against West Brom in all competitions, drawing three and losing four. Their only win against the Baggies in the FA Cup came in February 1974.

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