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Zola: What I'm expecting from the Magpies
Written by Dan King
Gianfranco Zola believes Newcastle will be "shaken" by their defeat to Fulham last weekend - but admits he is wary of United's quality.
The Birmingham boss has already faced Rafa Benítez's men twice this season in the Emirates FA Cup, with the sides drawing at St. Andrew's before the Magpies won 3-1 in the reply at St. James' Park.
But Newcastle were beaten 3-1 at home by Fulham last time out, and former Chelsea and Italy star Zola knows Benítez's table-toppers will be looking for a positive reaction.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, he said: "They will come with more attention, more determination, so it certainly can be a problem; it depends how they take (the defeat).
"Also they will be a little bit more shaken. They know they are a good team but they are not unbeatable so how they’re going to play, we'll see tomorrow.
"Sometimes you make a plan, you try to imagine, and then the result is different.
"I think Newcastle have a lot of quality, especially in the front players. I'm expecting that they will try to break us, especially when maybe we give them the opportunity to exploit spaces behind.
"When they counter, they're very, very quick and very skilful so we will have to be very good not to allow them to use those spaces. That will be very important.
"The game is mainly them trying to find spaces in behind us, and in terms of us, defending well and maybe trying to find the spaces behind them.
"We’ll see which one is going to prevail."