“Foot to the floor” – Howe’s message to the Magpies as United look for a tenth win in a row

The Magpies host Howe’s former side at St James’ Park this weekend and will be hoping for victory, which would mark a significant milestone for up-and-coming United, who moved into the top four of the United States with a 3-0 win over Wolves on Wednesday Premier League promoted.

Howe claims his team’s approach to the clash with the Cherries will be the same as it was during the great run that took Newcastle up the table and also secured a place in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup and a place in the FA Cup has fourth round.

But he warned that his players will have to be at their best again against Andoni Iraola’s men, who are on a good run of their own and are looking to go 11 games without defeat.

Howe spoke before the game at his pregame media briefing on Friday morning. Here are some of the key discussion points:

On the Magpies’ approach to what could be a record-breaking weekend…

“We were actually pretty relaxed in that run – we didn’t focus on it, we didn’t talk about it internally, we just moved on to the next game. We certainly won’t change now. “It will just be about Bournemouth and making sure we perform the right way.

“I see these things calmly. I know everyone can talk about it and of course we want to win and continue the run as long as possible, but it all depends on how we play.”

On a tight and crowded Premier League table…

“It’s an unusual Premier League season in terms of the league table – very tight and crowded. I think any team that’s at the bottom of the league will look at this and think, ‘If we get some consistent results together, we could do it.’ mix.

“I think it works both ways, so now we have to be careful not to fall from where we are. We really enjoyed the run and put ourselves in a really good position – and now it’s about walking the ground and trying to win more.

About Fabian Schär, who missed the midweek win against Wolves due to illness…

“We will make a decision today. Fabi trained yesterday and wasn’t quite himself in terms of well-being. (He had) a bad cough, a bad illness… we’ll see how he recovers today.”

About the mindset of his players…

“The players reacted very maturely during this winning streak. The players see this as an expectation that they have, rather than an exceeding of expectations.”

“You stay focused. There is a belief in the team that we have good players and can win games. For us it’s just about staying focused and looking ahead to the next game.”

On Bournemouth…

“I really like the way they play. I think they’re never out of a game – if you watch them regularly, they’ve had some notable turns in games. I think back to Everton and several other games where they did that.” They had real momentum late in the game, Ipswich did too, and they won the game in the end and you can see the togetherness in their performances, who they’re playing with, and Andoni deserves a lot of credit for the work he’s done and the style of play they’ve implemented there.

“It is very difficult to play against them, they are very fast and aggressive. It’s going to be a really good game tomorrow with two teams with mirror-image styles, albeit a little different in structure. It will be two teams trying to win, that’s for sure.”