A huge 18 days for Newcastle United – The road ahead for Eddie Howe’s Mags

Newcastle United’s return to the Champions League on Thursday evening will kickstart an insane run of fixtures which will see the team play every three days (give or take) between now and the next international break.

A run of seven games in 18 days will be a huge test of United’s mettle, squad depth, and quality, in what could be a season-defining run of games. There’s maybe only one ‘gimme’ but that’s only really on paper as Bradford are a team on the up, having won promotion to League One on the last day of last season.

It’s a demanding run of fixtures, sure to be full of twists and turns, so let’s look ahead to United’s busy 18 days:

Thursday 18 September: Barcelona (H)

The big one, but I would argue definitely not the most important. A win would be huge; for morale, for pride, and for the coverage, but with another seven games to play in the Champions League league phase, a draw (or, whisper it quietly, even a defeat) wouldn’t spell the end of United’s campaign.

I would expect the game to be a huge effort for the lads and the adrenaline will certainly carry them far, but Eddie Howe must balance the needs of this game up against the difficult game at the weekend. The gaffer will set the team up to win (as he does in every game), but I would expect to see some rotation. Anthony Gordon should definitely come in considering he will serve the final game of his domestic ban against Bournemouth, and I think it’s a toss-up between Anthony Elanga and Jacob Murphy on the right.

I’d also like to see Sven Botman come in as I think we will need a little bit more pace in the back line to cope with Barca’s attacking threats, but who he comes in for is the real question. In what is sure to be a spine-tingling night on Tyneside, I wouldn’t expect to see too many other changes to the line-up.

Sunday 21 September: Bournemouth (A)

Less than 72 hours later, United will rock up to the south coast of England to play Eddie’s boggy team, Bournemouth, in what is possibly one of the worst fixtures we could face after an intense, emotional Champions League night. To make matters worse, Bournemouth have started the season incredibly well, winning three out of four games.

In an ideal world, Eddie would have a full-strength squad to choose from, but Jacob Ramsey and Yoane Wissa’s injuries will already be putting additional pressure on the squad, as Joelinton and Nick Woltemade will more than likely be expected to start again. Added pressure also comes from the fact that United only have five points on the board, and a defeat would leave us seven points behind the Cherries at this early stage of the season.

I’d expect to see some rotation, with perhaps Lewis Hall, Malick Thiaw and, possibly Lewis Miley, even getting a start, but I’d take a point if you offered it to me now. Another school of thought is that with the League Cup game on the horizon, Eddie may ask the lads for one big final push before making wholesale changes for the Bradford game.

Wednesday 24 September: Bradford (H)

Despite what I said in the introductory paragraphs, I would expect to see a ‘shadow squad’ play this game. It’s a big game as the lads will want to make a decent fist of defending their League Cup title, but playing League One opponents at home (in the context of where it falls in this run of fixtures) will probably see eleven changes to the side with a healthy smattering of youth team players on the bench.

Aaron Ramsdale, Jamal Lascelles, Emil Krafth, Miley, Joe Willock, and Will Osula will all definitely start, and we may even see the likes of Harrison Ashby, Alfie Harrison, Alex Murphy, Caffal Heffernan, and Seung-soo Park play, or they will certainly be on the bench, with maybe one or two of the big hitters just in case the game is going completely wrong.

Bradford have started incredibly well on their return to League One, and at the time of writing, sit second on 17 points, so they will be no pushovers and will revel in their underdog status. Thankfully, the tie is at home, and even if it is a draw, these early rounds of the Carabao Cup go straight to penalties, so there is no spectre of extra time to deal with.

Sunday 28 September: Arsenal (H)

A huge game and one that will be massively informed by the results leading up to it. Expect to see a return to the main first eleven (injury permitting) with Gordon more likely to start this game too, as he will have served his three-game ban. Bruno Guimarães, Sandro Tonali, and Joelinton need to make it to this game unscathed too, as it will be a hugely combative, physical midfield battle against Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, and Mikel Merino/Martin Odegaard.

Arsenal have got a difficult run of fixtures between now and then too, which should see their squad tested, as they play Athletic Club (2-0 winners), Manchester City, and Port Vale away before the game at St James’ Park on the 28th of September.

If you could guarantee me one win from this run of fixtures, it would be in this game; as it’s never not funny beating Arsenal and watching their fanbases’ heads fall off for a year afterwards, and Arteta’s excuses are pure comedy gold, but more for keeping the obvious media narrative at bay if United haven’t won in the league since Wolves at this point.

Wednesday 1 October: Union SG (A)

Union started their Champions League campaign with a 3-1 win away at PSV on Tuesday night, and when you factor in that they’ve started their domestic season superbly, rapidly racking up five wins and two draws from seven games— they’ve started the season like a bullet from a gun.

The PSV result highlights that they shouldn’t be taken lightly, and I would expect Eddie to start a near-full-strength team against the Belgians, with a couple of changes at centre-back, where United are strong with four excellent options, and on the wings, expect Harvey Barnes to start this game with Gordon potentially moved up front as Woltemade would be starting his fourth game in just 14 days if he were to grace the pitch in Belgium.

It could potentially be a pressure game for United depending on the Barcelona result, and with ‘The Old Lady’ desperate to get off to a great start in their first-ever home Champions League game, expect their fans to be very up for this game.

Sunday 5 October: Forest (A)

In what will have been a huge test of the squad and how it will cope with the schedule this season, this run will be bookended by a game away to Forest in our final fixture before next month’s international break.

The team from Nottingham will have only played four games during the same 18 days, owing to the fact that the Europa League fixtures are staggered differently compared to the Champions League.

This game is very difficult to predict due to all the intangibles, form and fitness being the major two, but if United go into the game with three wins and a draw from the last five games, I would expect us to do well at a ground we have won at on our last four visits (including the penalty shootout win in the EFL Cup 3rd round last season). Conversely, the pressure would really be on if United have done poorly preceding this fixture.

Forest have had a squiffy start to the season too, and have installed Ange Postecoglou in the hot seat, and we tended to do well against his Spurs sides, but really only time will tell with this game and that appointment.

What we know for sure is that Thursday will be a big effort, so that will tee up the post-Barca chaos quite nicely in terms of using squad and we will really start to see if United’s summer business has left us in a better position to cope with the rigours of the fixture calendar this season, and the fans will have a huge role to play as the lads will need to be backed to the hilt to hopefully inspire a good run of results.

Keep the faith. HWTL