Eddie Howe backs Loris Karius to rise up to the occasion in Carabao Cup final against Manchester United

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe is confident Loris Karius will have no problem featuring in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Manchester United.

With Nick Pope suspended and Martin Dubravka cup-tied having spent the first half of the season on loan at Man United, Newcastle are set to field Karius in goal at Wembley Stadium.

While the 29-year-old endured a disastrous outing in Liverpool’s 2018 Champions League final defeat against Real Madrid, Karius’ current manager is backing him to rise to the occasion this time around.

“In my experience, Loris has been very calm, passionate about his work, passionate about goalkeeping, wants to do well, but he has that calmness and confidence that gives you a lot of belief that he’ll be fine,” Howe said in his pre-match press conference.

“Those experiences can only help him in this moment – his character is a big strength in pre-game and build-up to the match.”

Karius is yet to feature between the sticks in a competitive game since February 2021, but Howe has insisted that the goalkeeper will not be affected by a lack of match sharpness.

“It’s not as much of an issue as it would be for an outfield player,” Howe added.

“If it was an outfield player you’d have doubts about their physical performance and whether they can last the game.

“As a goalkeeper, skills are totally different as they have had a lot of training games and they’re involved in everything.

“They just haven’t had the crowd in front of them, which I understand is preferable if they had, but they haven’t.”

Off the back of a rough spell which has seen them fail to win any of their last three league matches, Newcastle set out to end a 68-year trophy drought this weekend and write another chapter in what has been an excellent season to date.