Eddie Howe reveals Newcastle United's approach to the FA Cup

The 19th-placed club was this week handed a home third-round tie against League One side Cambridge United.

The fixture, which has not been chosen for live broadcast, follows a gruelling run of games over Christmas, and United head coach Howe said: “We want to do well in the competition.

"It will take our focus when it needs to, but, at the moment, that's not there. But when we need to look at that game, we will. The disappointing thing for the FA Cup, for me in this round in particular, is it comes at the end of such a busy schedule.

"We will need a moment just to assess where our squad is in terms of fitness and numbers that we have. But we certainly want to progress and I love the FA Cup, always have done.”

Tomorrow’s game against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium is followed by festive fixtures against Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Everton and Southampton.

"I don't view it as a run, I view it as just the next game,” said Howe, who was appointed last month.

“I think grouping games together can be dangerous. You don't play games and groups, you play games one at a time. I think we just have to look at the Leicester game in isolation.

"It's a tough game, it's away from home against a very strong opponent, really well managed with some very good players.

"But we have to take the confidence from our recent performances, the feeling that we had (following a 1-0 win over Burnley), and try and get that feeling again, we're going to do that.

"You look at the work that it took to win that match from the players, the physical outputs it took. We're going to need to hit those heights again.”

The depth of a squad which was not strengthened in the summer will be tested over the coming weeks.

“I think we have some very, very important players within the team that make the team function,” said Howe. “But we also have a very good squad that we need to utilise.”

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