Eddie Howe U-turn could see Newcastle United unleash 'sublime' £120m duo
Newcastle United team news: Eddie Howe has changed his tune on Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa following an encouraging moment at Arsenal.
Eddie Howe has teased a return for a scarcely used Newcastle United partnership in the final weeks of the Premier League season.
The Magpies currently sit 14th in the table with four games left to play with both relegation and European football looking unlikely.
Newcastle face Brighton & Hove Albion at St James’ Park on Saturday (3pm kick-off) looking to end a run of five successive defeats.
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A disappointing season for NUFC strikers
A big talking point surrounding Newcastle’s failings this season has been the form, consistency and availability of their strikers, namely Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade.
The pair joined Newcastle late in the summer transfer window for a combined fee of around £120million. Yet as their first season at the club draws to a close, neither have found the net in the Premier League since the turn of the year.
Ahead of the trip to Arsenal last weekend, Howe explained that he will only start one striker in the system Newcastle currently play. Woltemade and Wissa then both came off the bench to play briefly together at the Emirataes Stadium, and played a role in Newcastle’s best chance of the game.
Woltemade played a lovely lofted pass to Wissa who volleyed over from 10-yards in the closing stages of the match.
The pair have only started once together since signing for Newcastle and that came in an FA Cup win over Bournemouth back in January.
But Howe has suggested the recent glimpse of a partnership in Newcastle’s previous match has given him food for thought.
Eddie Howe on Nick Woltemade & Yoane Wissa
“He's now growing in confidence because he feels better,” Howe said on Wissa. “It'll be great to see him deliver that consistently on the pitch.
“But, of course, I've always got to do what's right for the team and pick the team that I think is the best at this moment in time. But I know the very best of him is in the future. And I'm sure the supporters will see that.”
On Woltemade, Howe added: “Yeah, Nick's training well. I think, again, he's benefiting from the bigger sessions with 20 players that we've missed throughout the season.
“And now we're beginning to work with him on the things that we feel we needed to work with him earlier in the season, but we didn't have the opportunity to. I thought his pass for Yoane was sublime against Arsenal.
And it was great to see those two actually link together and look like they could be a potential partnership for us.”