CUP fever has gripped Newcastle United fans who are taking advantage of a cut-price deal offered by the club ahead of tonight’s home game against Preston North End.

More than 45,000 supporters will watch the EFL Cup fourth round tie when another team doing well in the Championship stand between United and a quarter-final place.

It will be the second-biggest crowd in United’s history for a League Cup tie at St James’ Park, beaten only by the 49,657 who watched a semi-final success against Tottenham in 1976.

The astonishing attendance is a reward for the club’s decision to slash ticket prices for the tie.

Thousands queued at the ground yesterday to snap up children’s tickets for £3, while adults paid only £10 for some parts of the stadium.

“I think it’s pretty special,” manager Rafa Benitez said. “You can see what it means to the fans and this club.

“It’s important for the present because the young fans can be more vocal and, if you have a team that is winning, they will support you forever.”

Benitez wants to reward the supporters with a victory that would move Newcastle just two rounds away from Wembley, but still plans to make several changes to the line-up that lifted them three points clear at the top of the Championship with a victory over Ipswich on Saturday.

The Spaniard regards it as a perfect opportunity to involve players such Aleksandar Mitrovic and Grant Hanley, who have been on the fringes of the action in recent weeks.

But he insisted yesterday that the changes will not damage United’s prospects of making progress in the competition.

He said:”We are using different players for different games. It will be a strong team, but with different players.

“We have a mix of players who need some time on the pitch. They train well and work hard, so deserve to be on the pitch. We can use different players and they will perform at the level of the others.

“We are trying to work in a way that means everybody is involved and know what they want to do.

“If we change players you will see a difference in match fitness, but in terms of what they have to do, you won’t see much difference.

“I want to win every game and I will try to do my best in this competition.

“It’s the most important game now because it’s the next game.

“If we have a lot of injuries in the squad and need points in the league, then I will have to decide what to do. But at this moment we can approach it by trying to win and to go through.

“If I pick a team it is because this is the team that I think has the best chance of winning this game.

“People might say ‘he’s not playing Gayle and he’s scoring goals’ but it’s because I think the player who is not playing might be more motivated and want to play well.

“Maybe sometimes the big players are thinking of the league or some other competition.

“This was true when I had players playing in the Champions League. They are thinking about that.

“In our case, the league is so important for us that someone might say ‘I don’t care about the cup’. We do care. We want to do well.”

However, Benitez insists that a cup run will not deflect him from his main aim of an instant return to the Premier League.

“It’s so simple to understand – we want to go to the Premier League to increase our income, buy better players and to give ourselves the best chance of winning trophies in the future,” he said. “At the moment, we will try to win this game and see where we are.

“The cup competitions are a bonus for the fans, a bonus for the players who need minutes and a bonus for the club. If we win, we may play against one of the big teams.”