EDDIE HOWE has dubbed all nine of Newcastle’s remaining Premier League games “must-win” affairs as they attempt to secure Champions League football for next season.
The Magpies face struggling Leicester City at the King Power Stadium tomorrow night having slipped to seventh place in the table following yesterday’s results, but with at least one game in hand on all of the teams above them.
However, Howe is under no illusions as to how many of the 27 points still on offer to them may be needed to secure a golden ticket for the second time in three seasons.
He said: “I think they’re all must-win games. I don’t think we look at any game any differently.
“We respect every opponent and we respect Leicester. We know that they have qualities and if we drop our levels – as we’ve found many times this season already – what the media will categorise into one type of game, it doesn’t exist.
“We need to go there with our best attitude and our best performance.”
The Magpies have won each of their last three games in all competitions, the first of them the Carabao Cup final victory over Liverpool at Wembley, but were made to work extremely hard for their latest success, Wednesday night’s 2-1 league win over Brentford.
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Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Leicester side are in grave danger of slipping straight back out of the top-flight – they are 15 points adrift of safety – and have lost 14 of their last 15 league fixtures.
But Howe, who will make late decisions over injured quartet Kieran Trippier, Joelinton, Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak, knows his players cannot allow their standards to drop if they are to prevail.
He said: “You need to take the confidence. Confidence is so fragile, as we know, so when you have it, you don’t want to lose it, and you don’t lose it by being professional.
“You don’t lose it by giving your best in training every day, and I think this is where we have to really double down on our standards and make sure we’re professional, which we have been.
“I’m pleased we got the Brentford game out of the way and I’m pleased we won. I think we’ll improve from the game. I’ve got no doubt we can play better than that.”
