Eddie Howe: Newcastle need bigger squad to tackle Champions League challenge

Mapgies will secure Premier League top-four spot if they beat Leicester City on Monday

Manager Eddie Howe celebrates after Newcastle's Premier League victory over Brighton at St James' Park on May 18, 2023. AFP

Newcastle United head into Monday's match against Leicester City knowing that victory will guarantee them Champions League football next season.

A place in the Europa League is already safely in the bag but with two games left of the domestic season, it is European club football's elite competition that remains Newcastle's prime target.

After Thursday's 4-1 destruction of Brighton at St James' Park, the Magpies are tantalisingly close to securing a place at Europe's top table for the first time since losing in the qualifiifying round to Partizan Belgrade back in 2003.

And manager Eddie Howe is fully aware that careful planning and squad strengthening is priority during the summer, despite the club's Saudi-Arabian owners already backing him to the tune of £250 million-plus since being appointed in November 2021.

“We need to figure that out,” said Howe, whose side are third in the Premier League, four points ahead of Liverpool in fifth.

“If you have a strong squad, rotation will be important. Rotation is going to be important, utilising the whole squad is going to be important.

“We haven't felt the necessity to necessarily do that on a consistent basis because we've been in one competition – of course, we had the League Cup run. We have rotated to a degree, but maybe not in the numbers that we might need to next year.

Newcastle 4 Brighton 1: Player ratings

“If you're going to do that, then the squad needs to be strong enough, so if you put out two XIs, they're of equal strength.”

As an energy-sapping season – broken up by the World Cup in Qatar – heads towards its finale, Howe's squad is feeling the pinch in terms of injuries and general fatigue.

Sean Longstaff and Jacob Murphy were already missing for the victory over Brighton which saw Joe Willock helped off the pitch in agony due to a hamstring injury, while Bruno Guimaraes has been struggling with an ankle problem for weeks.

“Today I’ll be going straight to the physio room, to be honest, after this to see how everybody is. We’ve got a few concerns,” admitted Howe.

“The lads gave so much yesterday to the game, they’ve given a lot to the season physically and I just hope there’s no serious effects.

“It looks like Joe Willock may be in trouble with his hamstring – we might lose him for the season, but that’s unclear as I sit here now. Fingers crossed our team will still be strong.”

Brazilian pair Guimaraes and Joelinton – key players in this season's success – have struggled during the last couple of games and Howe admitted the latter might hit a “brick wall” after Thursday's efforts.

“He’s a machine. He’d literally – it’s a well-used phrase in football – run through a brick wall for the team, the club and I think he does every game.

“He succumbed to that brick wall last night, it seemed to hurt him, but we hope he’s OK. He’s just been incredible for us this year.”

Next up for Newcastle will be relegation threatened Leicester who sit second bottom in the table, two points from safety.

It has been a nightmare campaign for the Foxes who saw manager Brendan Rodgers leave the club after four seasons in charge, and Dean Smith take over.

Their top-flight future hangs in the balance and a return to the second-tier for the first time since 2014 remains a distinct possibility.

“It can happen to any team in any season if things conspire against you,” added Howe, whose team take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on the final day of the season.

“Leicester have some outstanding individuals and a really strong squad when you look at the squad as a whole. But that is the Premier League.

“I’m not going to talk about Leicester’s reasons for being in the position that they’re in currently, all I know is I know their qualities.

“Dean Smith is an outstanding manager as well, he’s been given a tough task. But just focusing back on ourselves, the energy we gave in the Brighton game and the intensity we played at, that’s the standard for us and that’s what we want to try to recreate.”