Eddie Howe has spoken to the media this morning ahead of the visit of Fulham to St James’ Park on Sunday for Sky Sports televised game – Kick-off is at 2pm.
On paper this looks like another easy game for the Magpies, but Fulham are in great form and have become the latest team to get the better of Graeme Potter’s struggling Chelsea side with a 2-1 win last night.
Howe is more than aware of the threat posed by Fulham and won’t be taking anything for granted. He told the media this morning: “ Marco has done a very, very good job. I’m very impressed with their style of play, they’re not getting results in any other way than being a cohesive team unit. It will be a good test of our defensive capabilities.” (via The Chronicle).
With Howe suggesting it’ll be a good test of our defence, that suggests that he expects Fulham to try and attack, which is great for us as we tend to do a lot better against teams who try to go for a win than we do when teams park the bus.
However, we now have both Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson fit and ready, so we will hopefully be able to break down defences a lot more easily than before. Howe has even hinted that the pair could play together: “Of course they could be on the pitch together. I have to evaluate every game and situation and try to balance the fact you want two attackers on the pitch. Two outstanding players in their own right. The other day I decided to replace Callum because of his bad illness.
Alex has responded very well. He’s trained well this week. We have to be very careful with him because of the length of time he was out and the type of injury he had. He’s done all the work, looked in good condition, looks confident and wants to be involved.”
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