In a season full of false dawns and inconsistency, this has to be the week where we build on a big win and create some genuine momentum.
Saturday’s 4-0 win over Leicester was what we’ve been asking for, seeing us get back to winning ways at St James’ Park with a dominant display that will do wonders for the confidence.
For balance, it was against an awful Leicester side missing three of their first-choice midfielders, but it gives us a lift at the perfect time as we prepare to face Brentford for a place in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.
Winning a trophy has been Howe’s (and many of the players’) number-one goal at Newcastle, so this feels huge – not only for our search for silverware but the mood going into Saturday’s trip to Ipswich.
Howe on trophy ambitions – “That is what we’re here for [to win trophies], that’s what I made it very clear when I came to Newcastle. I know I speak on behalf of the players and coaching staff in that respect, so when you get to this part of the competition we recognise that’s our goal and what we’re trying to do. It’s not easy to do, as everyone knows, but these games take huge importance.
“We want to be the team that gets over the line and achieves something special. We encourage the players to stand up and talk individually to the group, and it’s become very apparent there’s the same will within all of them to win a trophy here.”
Howe on our recent form – “Those two home games have been really good performances [Liverpool and Leicester], the problem for us was Brentford was sandwiched in-between it, and we didn’t like ourselves in that one.
“We back ourselves from an attacking sense with the players we have and it was good to see us score the goals we did at the weekend. Our only focus is on Brentford and winning this match.
Howe on Lewis Hall – “Lewis has been very consistent. He has been a shining light for us, for someone so young that is not easy to do. I think his technical ability has been outstanding, defensively he has been pretty good, how he has handled himself and his maturity on and off the pitch has been high level.”
Howe on importance of confidence – “I think confidence is huge. I think you can see the attacking players start to feel really good. We got two or three in front [vs Leicester] and there was an extra bit of quality that confidence gives you. I think we’ve been on the verge of producing those kinds of displays for a while, but we haven’t, for whatever reason.
“Now you hope that we can be a bit looser in our play which is so important from an attacking sense. That you have that freedom and that ability to create and take chances in the final third. Hopefully we can gain that from the Leicester match.
Sean Longstaff is suspended and is one six Mags set to miss out, with Nick Pope (knee), Callum Wilson (hamstring), Sven Botman (not yet match fit), Emil Krafth (collarbone) and Jamaal Lascelles (ACL) all absent.
Botman made his comeback in a 3-2 win for the U21s on Monday night, but he won’t be back in first-team action until the end of the month or early January. Lewis Miley will be in the squad, however, after playing 45 minutes in that same game.
For Brentford, they remain without Mathias Jensen, Aaron Hickey and Rico Henry, but Igor Thiago – who started in their 4-2 win over Newcastle – could return after missing their 2-1 defeat at Chelsea on Sunday.
(4-3-3): Dubravka – Trippier, Schar, Burn, Hall – Bruno, Tonali, Joelinton – Murphy, Isak, Gordon.
Vlachodimos will be itching for a start in Pope’s absence, but I can’t see Howe changing goalkeepers again after Dubravka kept a clean sheet on his first start of the season on Saturday.
Trippier is the only player I could see coming into the back four if Howe was to rotate slightly. He’ll be keen to make up for the error that cost us at Chelsea this time last year at the same stage of the tournament and replaced Livramento in the latter stages of Saturday’s win. I’ve got a feeling he’ll start, keeping Livramento fresh for Saturday.
I can’t see any changes in midfield. Longstaff is suspended and Joelinton is banned for Saturday’s game, so the Brazilian will almost certainly start here. Bruno and Tonali are too good to be ‘rested’ for our biggest game of the season so far, meaning Willock and Miley may have to settle for the bench.
In attack, Isak and Gordon are two of our first names on the team sheet. While Barnes will be desperate to start, it wouldn’t make sense to accommodate him if it meant moving Gordon to the right, just as he’s rediscovering his best form on the left. With that in mind and Almiron seemingly out of Howe’s plans, I’d expect Murphy to start again.
With a real sense of occasion back at St James’ Park, the players boosted from Saturday’s 4-0 win and desperate to keep our cup dreams alive, I really fancy us to get one over a Brentford side who are abysmal on the road.
Away from home, the Bees have played eight, lost seven, drawn one and won zero so far this season, scoring just six in that time and conceding 16.
They are a totally different side at the Gtech, as we found in that recent 4-2 defeat, and they’ve also had less time to recover after a tough game at Chelsea on Sunday night.
Prediction: Newcastle 3-1 Brentford
Howay the lads!
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