Rio Ferdinand has backed his former club Manchester United to win the Carabao Cup final against a Newcastle side without first-choice goalkeeper Nick Pope.
England international Pope was sent off in the Magpies' Premier League defeat by Liverpool, meaning he is suspended for the Wembley showpiece. With second-choice keeper Martin Dubravka cup-tied, one of Loris Karius and Mark Gillespie will be making a first appearance of the season against Erik ten Hag's side.
Ferdinand knows what it takes to win this trophy. He started United's 4-0 win over Wigan in the 2006 final and captained Sir Alex Ferguson's team to a penalty shootout victory over Tottenham three years later, and has tipped his old side to come out on top once more.
"Weekend Carabao Cup final - we’re going to be in there!" Ferdinand said on his FIVE YouTube channel after Man Utd's Europa League victory against Barcelona. "Newcastle are going to get put down. I said 2-1 today [against Barcelona ]. I’m going 2-0 at the weekend.
"Pope’s out, Newcastle out of form, Man United are in form, we’re on the crest of a wave right now, but I’m not getting carried away. I’ll see you at Wembley."
After a 4-2 victory over Aston Villa in the third round, Erik ten Hag's United haven't conceded another goal in the Carabao Cup. They cruised past Nottingham Forest in the semi-finals, winning 3-0 at the City Ground and 2-0 at Old Trafford, to set up the final against Eddie Howe's team.
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While Newcastle will be without Pope, Mancehster United could also be missing some stars. Christian Eriksen and Donny van de Beek are definitely unavailable, as is Anthony Martial, while there are questions over Marcus Rashford after he was shown limping away following the win against Barcelona.
"I don't know. So, players now are coming in. We have to do investigations, medical of course," Ten Hag said. "Yesterday, we did but straight after the game most of the time you can't say. We have to wait for a 100 per cent diagnosis, so we have to wait."
"It's a great team, they have a clear philosophy about how they want to play the game," the former Ajax boss said of Sunday's opposition. "The key word is intensity, they do really well, but they're an annoying team to play against, so we have to find a way to win. They try to annoy you. We have to play our game and focus on our game."
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