NEWCASTLE have already taken over London ahead of the Carabao Cup final.
Tens of thousands of Geordies will descend on the capital on Saturday for a boozy weekend as they look to end their 70-year trophy drought against Liverpool.
On Thursday night, an incredible projection display put on by Toon’s front-of-shirt sponsors Sela painted the town black and white – and kickstarted the weekend.
The breathtaking show saw one of London’s major landmarks lit up with the club’s stars.
Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes and Co were beamed onto the 390ft Millbank Tower, which sits on the banks of the River Thames near Big Ben.
Highlights from this season’s Carabao Cup run, as well as animations of fans travelling from the Tyne Bridge to Wembley, set the tone for the weekend.
In 2023, Sela put on a stunning drone spectacle to celebrate Newcastle’s Champions League return before the home clash against Paris Saint-Germain.
The Saudi-based sponsors are donating a scarf to every Newcastle fan at the match, with both sides boasting just shy of 32,000 supporters.
London pub The Dolphin – which regularly hosts Newcastle fans – has also been renamed in honour of Eddie Howe’s assistant Jason Tindall.
Eddie Howe has called on his players to be “inspired” by the chance to win their first major trophy since their FA Cup triumph in 1955.
He said: “I think it’s a real motivation for us to try and break that long time and that long wait that everyone’s feeling.
“It should be inspiring for us – not a negative. I understand it will be a negative or a perceived negative for a lot of people, but we’re trying to look at it the other way round.
“It’s a chance to make history for us as a team – that’s very rare in football. You get very few opportunities to do that, a chance to be remembered positively.
“I want the players to look at it that way, as I said earlier, to attack the game and to get a good representation of us.”
Howe also knows what to expect from the travelling Toon Army just two years after fans took over London for the Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester United.
He added: “I’m sure they will be [the 12th man] for us. I think they always are, they were at West Ham.
“We know from the last time we got to the final, the scenes driving up to Wembley, the feeling of support and unity that we have.
“The expression the fans give in every game is huge for us and yeah, we’re going to need them, we’re absolutely going to need that 50% to turn into 55% if possible.
“We need every bit of help we can to push us over the line.”
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