The major Newcastle United tweak made behind the scenes ahead of Carabao Cup final

Newcastle United have made an important tweak to their Carabao Cup final preparations after vowing to do things slightly differently to the 2023 showpiece against Manchester United.

The word "low key" has been bandied around behind the scenes ever since Newcastle beaten Arsenal 4-0 over two legs to book their place in the March 16 event at Wembley. Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall both felt that there was too much hype around the build-up to the big day last time around.

Newcastle went as far as holding a specific media day two years ago at Benton when putting up three players to face reporters as well as the head coach in a long-winded series of interviews that Howe felt was unnecessary. That has been scrapped this year and Howe will hold a routine press conference in front of reporters at the club's media centre on Friday while a senior player is also expected to take a few questions before training takes place.

And the team will head south on Saturday the day before the game with one other major change to their plans. For this year, Newcastle will not spend the night at Wembley's grand Hilton hotel which is just a stone's throw from the famous venue of legends.

When United turned up last year Newcastle staff were shocked as they were whisked through a rowdy bar area and up to he higher levels of the complex. And while the Wembley Hilton had everything Howe's team needed it was difficult for players and staff to build-up to the cup final, which also had a teatime kick off, with fans gathered outside the hotel.

It also meant the team were not able to take their usual pre-match walk before the game. This year, Newcastle will stay in a hotel on the outskirts of West London before taking the bus to Wembley itself.

Speaking last night after the 1-0 win over West Ham, Howe said he was glad he could focus on the final now: "Yes. These games, we learned this last time can be quite a long wait, everyone talking about it but you have massive games ahead.

"I am pleased it's here, hopefully we can perform well. We’ll focus fully on Liverpool now. We’ll take everything into consideration.

"I felt we were in need of a win to go into the final with a real boost and lift. Will do us the world of good. Also for our league table position today was vital."