Newcastle United end 2025 with an away day at Burnley, but should fans be as worried as Eddie Howe sounds?
A mixed bag of results through December have pretty much summed up Newcastle’s season so far, with the dismal defeat against Man United on Boxing Day the icing on a cake nobody wanted.
If Newcastle United don’t beat Burnley, were would you stand on Eddie Howe’s future?
The Magpies need a big result if they are to scrape into the top half of the table by the end of the year, and an even bigger reaction from the players is needed to make amends for the past week.
Alan Shearer slammed the Newcastle players for their lack of desire against United, but Eddie Howe’s latest comments are hardly going to stir anyone into action. Let’s just hope he’s playing it cool.
- READ MORE: Why Eddie Howe isn’t holding his usual press conference ahead of Burnley vs Newcastle United
What Eddie Howe said about Burnley
Speaking to the press in the interim between the Man United clash and the upcoming game against Burnley, Howe discussed the prospect of facing his former club and appeared to hype the Clarets up.
He said: “It is a tough place to go, as I would know having managed there. But I think we just need to look at it independently and give everything we can to get a positive result there.
“We need to start feeling better about ourselves on the road. We need to start getting good feelings on our travels. For our supporters who give so much and travel in such big numbers, we need to give them the feeling that they want as well.”
Naturally, we would never expect Howe to talk down about an opponent and he has to be careful not to go into the game with too much confidence. However, we would have hoped the Newcastle United manager would be a little more positive, even in spite of the Magpies’ poor away record this year.
Our predicted XI vs Burnley! What changes would you make?
Newcastle United have dominated Burnley in recent years
Obviously, any team in the Premier League deserves respect and Burnley are no exception to this. The fact they held Everton to a 0-0 draw at Turf Moor over the festive period says it all about the strength and resilience of Scott Parker’s side.
But, let’s not forget this is a team that is sitting rather precariously in the bottom three right now, a good six points from safety. If Newcastle can’t overcome Burnley, even away from home, then something is drastically wrong.
Indeed, if we look at Newcastle’s record at Turf Moor, Howe really should have nothing to worry about. The Magpies have won four of their last five trips there, including a 4-1 victory in May of last year and three 2-1 wins dating back to 2018.
Burnley did beat Newcastle at home back in December of 2019 with a 1-0 triumph, but that is certainly the anomaly.
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