RAFAEL BENITEZ has promoted Callum Roberts to Newcastle United’s squad for tomorrow’s FA Cup third-round replay at Blackburn Rovers – and the 21-year-old could even find himself in the starting line-up at Ewood Park.

Benitez is set to make a host of changes after his side drew the initial tie 1-1 on Tyneside, with his selection set to be heavily influenced by the importance of Saturday’s Premier League relegation battle with Cardiff City.

Paul Dummett, Jonjo Shelvey and Mo Diame are all still unavailable because of injury, and Benitez does not want to risk Florian Lejeune given the centre-half’s lengthy absence in the first half of the season after cruciate ligament surgery.

The likes of Fabian Schar, Federico Fernandez and Jamie Sterry are likely to feature in defence, with Joselu expected to replace Salomon Rondon in attack.

Benitez said: “We need to find the right balance – find a team that can beat Blackburn but protect the players. We have some players with knocks so we have to find the balance.

“It is more or less the same in terms of injuries. Shelvey and Dummett are not available, and Diame is not available either. (Karl) Darlow still has some problems too. We will try to find the right balance for the game.

“We will have to assess those players before the Cardiff game, but for this game, 100 per cent they will not be available.”