FeatureThe view from Newcastle: Trophy dreams, Alexander Isak and... a curse to be broken?

Eddie Howe's side are back at Wembley in the competition's showpiece for the second time in three seasons, after suffering defeat by Manchester United in 2023.

Liverpoolfc.com spoke to Raul Kohli, stand-up comedian and host of the BBC's Total Sport Newcastle United podcast, for the lowdown on the Magpies heading into this encounter...

How are the excitement levels heading into another Carabao Cup final?

I'm very excited. It's a bit bittersweet for me because as fortunate as I am to be in Australia gigging and doing a job where I can travel the world and pay my bills, if you would have told me we would have been in the Carabao Cup final, I would have sacrificed everywhere I've been – Adelaide, Melbourne, Tokyo, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, New Zealand, Dubai – just to be either in Wembley or in Newcastle for that game.

I'm still excited for the final and the day out it's going to be, but the mood has soured so quickly as a result of, firstly, crashing of the FA Cup like a damp squib and then the form we've been on hasn't been particularly great these last few weeks. On top of those losses, we've got some real insecurity around the team.

We've lost what was probably the best outlet of our team, the left-hand side. Lewis Hall is out for the season and I think you as Liverpool fans know just how good he is from how he dealt with Mo Salah at Anfield. I'm sure you guys are thrilled about Anthony Gordon's suspension but we're not, a moment of madness from a man who usually talks about meditation and visualisation. It's still not the end of the world because he's a great player on the left but Harvey Barnes is a great player too. Not to forget the defence that got us to the Champions League the same season we got to the Carabao Cup final last time, we've lost probably the diamond in there, which was Sven Botman – he's out for the season as well. The mood has soured around the city but I'm slightly optimistic. I think there's no pressure. If we want it more, with how tired you'll be from PSG, well there is nothing to lose?

Obviously you are missing key players but just having a potent forward like Alexander Isak must give you some confidence...

It gives me all the confidence in the world. He's already put a few past Liverpool. If you look at that game we played at Anfield, if Isak is on the pitch, I think he scores those first two chances and you're looking at a completely different game.

The wait for Newcastle to win a trophy has quite literally been a lifetime for most, hasn't it?

It's really telling for a club like Newcastle to not have won anything in over half a century – that is no small amount of time. That's why we want it more and maybe we'll give Liverpool more of a game than the bookies think. I actually saw a post that's going a bit viral where this guy said apparently when Newcastle moved their training ground to Benwell, there was a group of travellers there who they forced off the patch of land to use it as a training ground. One of whom was a palm reader that cursed the club with bad luck for the next century to never win a trophy. At first, it's nonsense, but when all of this happens, two finals in a row, on top of that Kevin Keegan season, you do start to wonder!

Curse or not, more than 31,000 Newcastle fans will be inside Wembley. You must have been inundated with ticket requests...

It's been insane. I've had a few people request. I've been like, 'Bro, if I had the money, I'd be paying for a flight for a weekend at home from Adelaide, going to Wembley and then flying back.' Every fan in Newcastle wants a ticket to that game. The demand has been so insane that the United Kingdom, which isn't exactly famed for its public transport infrastructure, has literally modified it – they've put on extra trains for the final because the demand is so high. You'd hope it's going to be a great weekend out, like Manchester United. But if we win, dear lord, the week after is going to be insane – the roads will be shut down, the offices will be shut down, bosses will just have to understand if they're not hungover themselves!

What are you like spectating and what's your plan for the final?

As a spectator, I tend to keep a level head as I've moved into a little bit of sports journalism as I host the Total Sport NUFC podcast. But a final is a final at the end of the day and if you're a Liverpool fan, with the utmost respect in the world, they probably come around quite a lot. They do not come around for us very often. We're very fortunate to have the second one in three years and I'll just be trying to enjoy this. It's a 3am kick-off here in Adelaide and I'll be having a few drinks. There's a few Geordie comedians out here and there's a whole set-up for it – there's a Liverpool section, there's a Newcastle section. I'm just looking forward to a good day out with good friends and doing something I've been doing my whole life. I don't have much expectation... it's the hope that kills you... but it's also the hope that makes football worth watching.

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