Eddie Howe drops hint on Newcastle United's Anthony Gordon ahead of Liverpool

The winger, signed from Everton last month in a £45million deal, has made two appearances off the bench so far for Eddie Howe’s side. Gordon came off the bench at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday after Howe lost midfielder Joe Willock to an injury in the club’s 1-1 draw against Bournemouth.

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Asked if Liverpool-born Gordon had pushed himself closer to a first start on Saturday, United's head coach said: “Yeah, he has. It’ll be interesting. But I have to say he's trained really well, played really well in the two games he has had, and we're delighted with him.”

Gordon took up a role in midfield following the loss of Willock, and the 21-year-old’s an option in that position for Saturday’s home game.

"Yeah, I think at times you have to be flexible,” said Howe. “You can have a preferred way of playing, but we'll always be able to tweak certain personnel or systems – and you have to.

"We were quite prepared to do that, we were prepared to do it, and we knew it was an option for us. Anthony came on and did really well in that central zone.”

Fourth-placed Newcastle have drawn five of their last six Premier League games.

"The challenge for us is to find our winning feeling again,” said Howe. “We're desperate to do that and we need to be consistent with that.

“To reach those (top-four) levels in the Premier League, we have to win – and we have to win again soon.”