Newcastle visit Liverpool on Thursday, then they host Manchester City and Manchester United before making another trip to Merseyside to face Everton before the end of 2021.
With such a hectic schedule to come, it would come as no surprise to see Howe rotate his squad to give players time to rest and to reduce injuries.
But how much as he rotated so far during his brief time as manager? And can we use this to predict how different each Newcastle United starting XI will look on a game by game basis over Christmas?
Here, using data provided by BettingExpert, we have listed how many changes, on average, each Premier League manager makes to their starting XI for each game:
Do these results shock you? Drop us a follow on Twitter @MouthofTynePod and let us know your thoughts there?
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1. Ralf Rangnick - 0
The new Manchester United boss is yet to make a change to either of his two starting line-ups. Both games ended in a 1-0 win for the Red Devil’s. Photo: Alex Livesey
2. David Moyes - 0.75
Moyes and West Ham are having yet another great season as they threaten the league’s top four. More impressively, they have done this whilst balancing the demands of European football. Moyes has been able to select a consistent starting XI in that time, making just 0.75 changes per game on average. Photo: Alex Pantling
3. Bruno Lage - 1.13
Wolves do not have the biggest squad and Lage has had to deal with a few long-term injuries to some of his players. All of this means he has had very few chances to rotate his squad. Photo: Marc Atkins
4. Thomas Frank - 1.13
Brentford’s successes in the Championship revolve around a team understanding what is required from them and all acting as one unit to perform at a level higher than the sum of their parts. Frank has been able to continue this in the Premier League and has made very few changes to his starting XI’s over the course of the season so far. Photo: Justin Setterfield