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Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer at St Mary's Stadium

Image source, Getty Images

Newcastle United hold a slender advantage from the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg as Joelinton's goal gave them victory at Southampton.

The Brazilian made amends for missing an earlier easy opportunity when he arrived on the end of substitute Alexander Isak's perfect low cross to make the decisive contribution with 17 minutes left.

Newcastle will now be favourites to reach their first major Wembley final since the FA Cup in 1999 as they attempt to end a trophy drought stretching back to the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup win.

And if Newcastle do complete the job in the second leg on Tyneside they will owe a debt of gratitude to Nick Pope, who made two vital second-half saves from Southampton substitute Che Adams with the score still goalless, extending his remarkable personal record to 10 successive clean sheets.

Southampton, who had what they thought was an equaliser from Adam Armstrong disallowed for handball by VAR, saw their night of frustration complete when defender Duje Caleta-Car was sent off in the closing minutes for a second yellow card.

Joelinton was a central figure, seeing a first-half goal contentiously ruled out for handball then blazing over an open goal when it seemed easier to score, before hitting the target to make Eddie Howe's side firm favourites to reach Wembley.

The two sides meet at St James' Park in the second leg on Tuesday, 31 January.

The winners of both semi-finals (over two legs) will meet at the Wembley final on 26 February and Newcastle will feel like they've got one foot in the final after yesterday's other semi-final first-leg tie...

Image source, Getty Images

Erik ten Hag says he is determined to end Manchester United's longest trophy drought in 40 years as they prepare for tonight's Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at Nottingham Forest.

The Red Devils have not won any silverware since beating Ajax in the 2017 Europa League final.

They last went six years without winning a trophy between 1977 and 1983 and United boss Ten Hag wants to bring back that winning feeling to the club.

"It's the best feeling," he said. "I had the luck in my career to win some trophies and it's magnificent, especially for the fans.

"It's so great and I think the fans here have some experience, especially the older ones. But now it is a period Manchester United didn't win trophies and it is too long ago. We are aware of that fact and we have to do everything to bring a trophy in."

Nottingham Forest

• R2 3-0 v Grimsby H (Ryan Yates, Sam Surridge 2)
• R3 2-0 v Tottenham H (Renan Lodi, Jesse Lingard)
• R4 4-1 v Blackburn A (Brennan Johnson 2, Jesse Lingard, Taiwo Awoniyi)
• QF 1-1 (4-3 on pens) v Wolves H (Willy Boly)

Manchester United

• R3 4-2 v Aston Villa H (Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Scott McTominay)
• R4 2-0 v Burnley H (Christian Eriksen, Marcus Rashford)
• QF 3-0 v Charlton H (Antony, Marcus Rashford 2)

Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper tells Sky Sports: "We need to get the balance right and respect Manchester United. Some players have play-off experience from last season, it's about playing in the moment and making good decisions.

"We've not been magnificent but we've been better recently.

"We were doing things not well enough and we had to sit down and talk about it. We were conceding too many goals. We just tried to approach things differently, we're still not the team we want to be but we've made some forward steps.

"The attitude of the players has improved.

"We played United just after Christmas and we weren't good enough, we were underwhelmed with how we did. We have spoken about how to improve on that performance.

"It has been a tough run to get this far and we've done well to get here but let's back ourselves to keep going."

Manchester United have not played at the City Ground since 1999 - and the United fans, players and coaching staff would be delighted with a repeat of that match tonight.

On that occasion it ended Nottingham Forest 1-8 Manchester United. Dwight Yorke scored twice, so too did Andy Cole before Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, on as a 71st-minute substitute, then bagged four goals coming off the bench.

As always we want you to contact us with your thoughts on the game so tweet us using #bbcfootball to have your say.

Press the play button at the top of this page to listen to all the build-up and then live commentary from BBC Radio 5 Live.

Nottingham Forest make four changes from the side who drew 1-1 with Bournemouth at the weekend.

Sam Surridge, who came off the bench to score the equaliser there, is rewarded with a start. Scott McKenna and January signings Gustavo Scarpa and Danilo also come in.

Goalkeeper Dean Henderson is injured but he would also have been unavailable as he can't play against his parent club.

Nottingham Forest XI: Hennessey, Lodi, McKenna, Worrall, Aurier, Danilo, Freuler, Scarpa, Gibbs-White, Surridge, Johnson.

Subs: Smith, Cook, Boly, Williams, Mangala, Colback, Lingard, O'Brien, Dennis.

Casemiro is back from suspension and starts for Manchester United.

Victor Lindelof and Tyrell Malacia also come in from the team who lost to Arsenal.

Wout Weghorst keeps his place up front.

Manchester United XI: De Gea, Malacia, Martinez, Lindelof, Wan-Bissaka, Casemiro, Eriksen, Rashford, Fernandes, Antony, Weghorst.

Subs: Heaton, Varane, Williams, McTominay, Fred, Pellistri, Mainoo, Elanga, Garnacho.

Simon Stone
BBC Sport at the City Ground

You have to go back a long way for Nottingham Forest's last League Cup final appearance but they do have a rich history in the competition.

When they lost to Manchester United in 1992, it was their third final appearance in a four-year spell that also included an FA Cup final defeat by Tottenham in 1991.

Forest also reached three League Cup finals in a row from 1978.

Former boss Brian Clough was in charge for the lost. Along with Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho, Clough remains the most successful manager in the tournament's history, with four triumphs.

Ironically, Ferguson got his first in that 1992 game and Mourinho got his last in 2017, when United beat Southampton for their last domestic trophy.

Hello and welcome along to BBC Sport's coverage of the Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg tie between Nottingham Forest and Manchester United.

We have live commentary from the City Ground on BBC Radio 5 Live and you can listen to that in this very page.

Two games from Wembley and three matches from a trophy and European qualification.

The first of them comes tonight. It's a big night at the City Ground for both Nottingham Forest and Manchester United.