Yoane Wissa of Newcastle United comes on for teammate Nick Woltemade to make his debut during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Burnley at St James' Park on December 06, 2025 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)placeholder image
Yoane Wissa of Newcastle United comes on for teammate Nick Woltemade to make his debut during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Burnley at St James' Park on December 06, 2025 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Eddie Howe has addressed his striker options ahead of Newcastle United’s Premier League clash against Chelsea at St James’ Park.
The striker took just 10 minutes into his full debut to open his account for The Magpies as they ended up securing a spot in the Carabao Cup semi-final with a 2-1 win.
Newcastle now return to Premier League action against Chelsea on Saturday (12:30pm kick-off) at St James’ Park, with head coach Eddie Howe facing some important team selection decisions.
Defensively, United are short of options with Fabian Schar and Malick Thiaw the only fully-fit and available defenders available for the Chelsea match. Lewis Hall is a doubt but has a chance of returning following a hamstring issue while Tino Livramento is ruled out until early 2026 with a knee injury.
Kieran Trippier, Sven Botman, Dan Burn, Emil Krafth and Jamaal Lascelles remain sidelined.
Further forward, striker William Osula is out until the new year as well but the return of Wissa to full fitness for the first time since his £55million arrival from Brentford has given Newcastle a fresh and exciting attacking option.
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Yoane Wissa ‘responded well’ to NUFC full debut
Wednesday was Wissa’s first start at club level since May and now he will be pushing to keep his place in the side against Chelsea less than 72 hours later.
But the quick-turnaround paired with the availability of Nick Woltemade will likely see the German come back into the side.
“He's responded well,” Howe said on Wissa. “He played very well in the game. His movement was excellent. His fitness, for how long he's been out, was very good.
“He kept running, he kept the intensity levels up for a long period of time. So I was very, very pleased.
“He played longer than maybe we planned on him playing because he looked so so good in that moment and he wanted to stay on and he wanted to score more goals. That was a really good start for him. A very, very positive night.”
Wissa and Woltemade are two of the most expensive players in Newcastle’s history so only playing one of them at any given time risks limiting the side’s attacking potential.
Can Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade play together at Newcastle United?
A question many supporters have been asking is whether the £120million strike force can start together in the same side or whether the system limits their impact to one or the other.
Howe has often used a system that includes just one striker from the start, but is open to the suggestion of starting both together.
"I’ve always historically, going way back, used two strikers,” Howe said in response. “Haven't done it so much here, but we did go through spells where we used Alex [Isak] and Callum [Wilson] together.
“So, of course, you can adapt any system to any two players, but I think what is really important, or if and when you play two strikers, you don't lose control of the pitch in other areas and you have your two strikers starved of the ball.
“I think it's a delicate balance for us, two outstanding players that you'd love to see on the pitch together, of course, but not to the detriment of the team."
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