Eddie Howe has warned his Newcastle team to be ready to face a ‘very dangerous’ Leicester team. The Magpies will meet Brendan Rodgers’ team twice in the next three weeks, starting with a return to Premier League action on Boxing Day, before the Carabao Cup 1/4 Final on January 10th.
The Foxes endured a horrific start to this season, registering just one win in their first ten games which left them rock bottom of the league in mid-October. Since then, however, Rodgers and co have turned their season around and now sit 13th.
Despite the poor start to the season, Newcastle boss, Howe, was always confident that Rodgers would be able to turn things around at the King Power Stadium.
“I think they’re a top team with a top manager. That never changed, in my opinion, even though they had a difficult start to the season,” Howe said in his pre-match press conference.
“The quality of Brendan’s work I think always shines through in his teams, and if you look at their players, not a dramatic amount has changed from the team that excelled in previous years.
“We respect them immensely, I think they’re a very good football team, and I think now the confidence has returned. They’re a very dangerous opponent for us.”
Jamie Vardy, Harvey Barnes, and of course, James Maddison, will be the biggest threats to our so far outstanding defence on Monday. Maddison has been closely linked with Newcastle since last summer, and the rumours are that Howe is keen to go back in for the England attacker in January.
It adds another interesting angle to the two upcoming games. Maddison has been one of the best players in the Premier League this season and should be back to full fitness after an injury that kept him out of action for the beginning of the World Cup.
Newcastle can, incredibly, move above Man City into 2nd place with a victory at Leicester. Could Maddison be tempted to join a team in the top two??