Eddie Howe affirmed the importance of the three points against **Fulham**this weekend.
Newcastle United won their second successive **Champions League**game with a 3-0 victory over **Benfica**after beating Union Saint-Gilloise 4-0 to mark a first triumphant away day in in the competition in more than two decades. However, domestic affairs have been much thornier.
Most recently, the Toon were defeated 2-1 at **Brighton**and performances on the pitch have not always offered the quality or ruthlessness in the final third that befits their talent and work rate. After another midweek European encounter, the team have a chance to learn to build rhythm in this schedule.
*“You go back to last year, two disappointing results against Fulham. So I think we know the qualities of their team and Marco's done a brilliant job there. So I think these are difficult games for us.*
“We felt that returning from the Champions League always the high emotion of the Champions League games, the energy that those games bring you. They're night games. It's totally different.
Going back to an afternoon kickoff in the Premier League: it is a big mental challenge for us and we have to rise to that and grow from the experiences we've had previously. This will be a tough game.
“The last Champions League campaign, if you'd asked me at the start of the season, I said we had an outstanding squad with real depth, but we lost players continually in that early stage of the season. So, we lost the strength.
“Looking back at that season, we performed very well despite the challenges we faced. Slightly new position for us this year. We have the depth and then it's using the depth at the right time without losing the balance in the team and the cohesion that you need to get regular results.”