The Magpies host Brentford at St James' Park this teatime, with Wissa no doubt desperate to start against the club that sold him this summer.
Newcastle returned to the negotiating table on four separate occasions as they sought to sign Wissa, eventually agreeing to pay £55m for the 29-year-old, who scored 19 Premier League goals last season.
He only has one in the current campaign, although the statistics are skewed by September’s posterior cruciate ligament injury sustained while on international duty with DR Congo.
That kept Wissa on the sidelines for almost four months, and the striker has undoubtedly shown signs of rustiness since returning to action. Howe feels that was inevitable, and expects Wissa’s performance levels to improve as the second half of the season progresses.
“I'm hopeful that he can find his best form as we go through the season,” said the Magpies boss. “He'll continue to get better and better physically.
“Unfortunately, there's no magic wand to sort his physical condition because when he came to us, he hadn't trained regularly anyway, then he picked up a serious knee injury and he's starting again.
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"Then, he’s in a hurry to get fit for his new team and of course desperate to play, desperate to impress, desperate to give back.
“He's sort of chasing that fitness and he is fit and he's fine, so there's no issues with his injury. It's just his match sharpness. The things you take for granted when you're fully fit sometimes can be hard to re-find as quickly as you want to.
“There's no doubting his quality, his goalscoring ability and his instincts are still there. It's just getting that last bit of sharpness in his game which will come through time - but again, there’s no magic wand to do it.”
Neither Wissa nor Nick Woltemade has been able to hold down a regular place in Howe’s first-choice line-up, indeed last weekend at Anfield, the Magpies boss opted to go without a recognised centre-forward in his starting line-up with Anthony Gordon leading the line.
Gordon’s absence means either Wissa or Woltemade is set to start this afternoon, with the latter having started just two of Newcastle’s last six league matches.
Like Wissa, Woltemade has not really lived up to his billing since completing a £69m summer move from Stuttgart, although like his strike partner, Howe feels there are explanations for the German’s struggles in front of goal.
“He is young and it’s a new league,” he said. “He started so well and I think everyone expected that to continue, but I think that’s very difficult to do, as much as we wanted that to happen for him.
“He’s getting to grips with the challenges of the Premier League – the speed, the intensity, the physicality. And of course teams are getting to know him as well and I think that’s the biggest challenge for him, teams understand his game and what he wants to do and he has to find solutions the other way.
“You have to keep ahead of all the other teams, so there’s work for him to do. But I think he’s done everything with such a great attitude and a great way, that’s the biggest thing that means, for me, he will continue to be successful.”