An email: “I would suggest that you, very much like Gabriel Martinelli, are straying very much out of your lane with your ability to assess a knee injury,” writes Tim. “Injury stoppages can be annoying (and tactical), but they are there for a reason. Watching on the telly the other day, I also felt that Bradley may have been feigning injury to delay the restart.”

To be clear, I was not even remotely annoyed by the stoppage for Nick Pope’s “injury”; more amused. It’s a black and white movie I’ve seen many, many times before.

45+2 min: From a City corner, the ball drops for Nathan Ake, who takes a shot on the turn. His effort takes a nick off a Newcastle defender on its way over the bar. There’s just enough time to take the next corner but nothing comes of it. It’s half-time.

44 min: Murphy goes to ground rubbing the back of his left thigh as he waits for treatment. It looks like he’s done his hamstring a mischief without actually tearing it. His race is run for tonight and he’s replaced by Harvey Barnes.

43 min: Foden plays a give-and-go with O’Reilly before darting into the Newcastle penalty area to collect a return pass that fails to find him. Newcastle clear their lines again.

41 min: An Ake dink into the the Newcastle penalty area is headed clear after no end of passing and probing by City as they try to find a way through the massed ranks of the home defence.

39 min: Semenyo fouls Lewis Hall again and Newcastle have a free-kick just inside their own half. Hall floats the ball towards the Manchester City penalty area, with just enough welly on it for Trafford to be able to catch it without fear of stepping out of his fiefdom.

37 min: Bruno Guimaraes’ free-kick to the near post is poor but Nunes concedes a corner. Standing over a dead ball for the second time in quick succession, Bruno swings the ball towards the far post, where Trafford punches clear.

36 min: Anthony Gordon tries to sprint past Matheus Nunes after playing the ball behind him and is hacked down by the City right-back. Yellow card.

35 min: Jacob Murphy cuts in from the right and tries to stand the ball up at the far post but his delivery is far too close to James Trafford, who plucks it to safety.

33 min: Bernardo Silva fouls Lewis Hall and is fortunate not to see yellow for a needlessly daft challenge.

32 min: Over half-an-hour in and the only chance of note in a quite turgid and scrappy game thus far has fallen to Newcastle. It was missed by Yoane Wissa.

30 min: Nico O’Reilly and Joelinton are both booked for some bad-tempered off-the-ball pushing and shoving. It’s something and nothing.

28 min: Now Bruno Guimaraes goes down having been knocked over by an agricultural challenge from Nico O’Reilly. Not for the first, second or third time in this game, Newcastle play the ball long towards Nathan Ake, having clearly targetted the space in behind him as an area to be exploited.

25 min: To nobody’s great surprise, Pope is passed fit to continue in the time it takes both head coaches to stage impromptu team briefings on the touchline.

23 min: There’s a break in play as Nick Pope requires treatment for what might be an injury to his right knee. Whether he’s genuinely hurt or Eddie Howe requires one of his unofficial technical time-outs is open to debate.

20 min: A long clearance from Trafford drops at the feet of Lewis Miley, who sends it back upfield. Lewis Hall runs at the City defence and is blatantly tripped by Semenyo, who is lucky to avoid a booking.

18 min: James Trafford does Max Alleyne few favours by passing the ball short to him in an area where he almost certainly doesn’t want it and the young centre-half is immediately put under severe pressure by Jacob Murphy. He elects to hoy the ball into the safety of the stand and it takes a deflection off Murphy on its way into Row Z.

16 min: Jeremy Doku plays a low Hail Mary ball into space behind the Newcastle defensive for Haaland to chase but there’s far too much welly on his pass for the big man to reach it before Nick Pope.

14 min: Joelinton plays the ball wide to Gordon on the left and his cross, when it arrives, picks out the Brazilian on the edge of the City penalty area. Joelinton gets his head to the ball but is unable to steer it on target.

13 min: City corner. Phil Foden’s near post delivery is headed clear but the visitors recycle the ball. A Haaland foul on Malick Thiaw gifts possession back to Newcastle.

11 min: A correction: It was Jacob Murphy, not Anthony Gordon, who crossed to Wissa for that Big Newcastle Opportunity. I mean, I have one job and it’s not like they look even remotely alike.

9 min: Out on the left wing, Doku jinks this way and that before cutting inside Jacob Murphy. He slips and loses his footing, allowing the Newcastle winger to recover the ball.

7 min: City advance upfield, having survived that early scare. Anthony Gordon is forced to hack clear after Bernardo Silva runs on to a weighted Doku ball in behind and almost picks out Haaland with a pull-back from the byline. The ball took a nick off a defender en route to the Norwegian.

5 min: That’s more like it. Newcastle work the ball from back to front and Anthony Gordon curls a low cross from the right into the path of Yoane Wissa. His first touch his excellent but the second isn’t great – leaning back, he balloons a shot high and wide when he should have scored.

4 min: It’s cagey stuff in these early stages, with little or nothing of significance to report.

3 min: Trafford gets another touch upon receiving a backpass from Nathan Ake, who is playing at left-back for City.

1 min: Lewis Miley takes a throw-in deep in his own half, Erling Haaland wins it before being quickly dispossessed and Newcastle advance with Joelinton on the ball.

Not long now: The sax solo from Local Hero concludes and referee Chris Kavanagh and his team of match officials lead the players of both sides out on to the pitch. Bernardo Silva and Bruno Guimaraes skipper the sides and kick-off is just a few minutes away.

An email: “G’Day Bazza,” writes Chris Paraskevas from Australia. “It’s a civilized 0700 kickoff for those of us Down Under and there is only one question on Newcastle fans’ collective hive mind: will Anthony Gordon and Anthony Elanga wear matching headbands tonight?

“As the season has progressed, Gordon has moved from plain black headband to a branded Adidas one, but Elanga’s game and fashion have comparatively stalled this season - maybe he’ll go fot something spicey, like one of the bandanas the gangsters wear in Blood In Blood Out.

“I have a feeling this game might be decided by one or two of the substitutes and Elanga is one of those who needs to start contributing more assists and goals if we’re to kick on this season.”

Goalkeeping news: The chances of James Trafford joining Newcastle from Manchester City in the summer heightened on Monday when Eddie Howe spoke admiringly of the goalkeeper and Pep Guardiola left open the porspect of a move. Louise Taylor and Jamie Jackson report …

This just in: Manchester United have confirmed what we already knew – Michael Carrick will take interim charge of their first team until the end of the season. In a statement on their website, the club said they are “delighted” to announce their former midfielder’s appointment.

““Having the responsibility to lead Manchester United is an honour,” said Carrick. “I know what it takes to succeed here; my focus is now on helping the players to reach the standards that we expect at this incredible club, which we know that this group is more than capable of producing.

“I have worked with a number of the players already and have obviously continued to watch the team closely in recent years, I have total belief in their talents, dedication and ability to be successful here. There is still a lot to fight for this season, we are ready to pull everyone together and give the fans the performances that their loyal support deserves.”

Tonight’s match officials

• Referee: Chris Kavanagh

• Referee’s assistants: Dan Cook and Ian Hussin

• Fourth official: Matthew Donohue

• VAR: Stuart Attwell

• Assistant VAR: Craig Taylor

Those teams: Eddie Howe makes seven changes to the side that started against Bournemouth, some of them enforced. Nick Pope is back between the sticks, while Lewis Miley, Lewis Hall, Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon also return. As expected, Harvey Barnes starts on the bench despite his sizzling xcurrent form.

Pep Guardiola makes five changes: Nico O’Reilly, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Matheus Nunes and Jeremy Doku all come into the side, while Antoine Semenyo makes his second start for his new club.

Route to the semi-final

Newcastle: Bradford City (4-1), Tottenham Hotspur (2-0), Fulham (2-1)

Manchester City: Huddersfield Town (2-0), Swansea City (3-1), Brentford (2-0)

Early team news

While Eddie Howe said assessing his players’ “energy levels” in the wake of Saturday’s epice FA Cup tie against Bournemouth would be important ahead of tonight’s team selection, Newcastle are definitely without defenders Dan Burn, Fabian Schar and Tino Livramento, while reserve defenders Emil Krafth and Jamaal Lascelles are also unavailable.

William Osula remains sidelined with an ankle injury, while Jacob Murphy and Anthony Elanga were to face late fitness tests. With a daunting run of fixtures looming for Newcastle, the in-form Harvey Barnes may be kept in reserve on the bench having played every single minute of his side’s past two games.

Manchester City have absentees of their own at the back, with Ruben Dias, John Stones and Josko Gvardiol all injured, while Mateo Kovacic, Oscar Bobb and Savinho are also out. Omar Marmoush is still away with Egypt, preparing for tomorrow’s Afcon semi-final against Senegal. At his press conference yesterday, Pep Guardiola echoed the sentiments of many, including his opposite number, in saying he would prefer if this Carabao Cup final was not played over two legs and was instead just “one game”.