Eddie Howe has been talking ahead of Newcastle United taking on Qarabag FK.
The match schedule continuing to be relentless.
This time though United have the cushion of a 6-1 win from the first leg of this Champions League play-off.
Newcastle United returning to St James’ Park after four away games in a row.
An 8pm kick-off on Tuesday night.
Eddie Howe speaking at his Newcastle United pre-match press conference ahead of facing Qarabag FK:
Eddie Howe giving an injury and availability update on Seven Botman and Yoane Wissa, as well as talking about his team selection in general: “We hope Sven and Yoane will be involved. We will see how they are when they wake up tomorrow, but fingers crossed, they will be. We will look at the squad and try to pick a strong team. We want to win the game, that is the first target. In some senses we want to keep a good rhythm with the players. It is a delicate balance between rotating the squad and making sure everyone’s fresh and also making sure players don’t lose rhythm and we don’t lose the good feeling we’ve had.”
A second Champions League campaign in the space of three seasons.
This will be the 44th match of the season so far and we haven’t even reached March as yet, if United get past Qarabag then that will guarantee a minimum of 58 matches in total, the Head Coach stating: “There have been some great performances in the Champions League and we have sort of saved our best for the competition. A lot was made of the result against Qarabag in the first leg but for me it was the performance and the manner and the hunger we showed. That is the level I want us to try and attain, or as close as we can, as often as possible.”
Newcastle United came so close to automatically qualifying via the top eight places in the Swiss League phase, Eddie Howe and his players now so close to reaching the last 16 of the Champions League: “It’s something we spoke about before the competition started, that was our initial target, we wanted to reach the last 16. Then when you are at that point anything can happen. We back ourselves in cup ties and one-off games, that seems to have brought out the best of the squad this year. As much as that’s the target, we’ve still got to win tomorrow’s game and that’s what we’ll focus on.”
A run of three away wins in a row in three different competitions, was ended with the narrow defeat to Man City.
Eddie Howe on the mood in the United camp after this run of impressive away performances: “The atmosphere around the squad has been really strong in the last few weeks. It’s been a really good response to a difficult period for us. We are ready for tomorrow’s game.”