The 25-year-old midfielder spent just under four years at St James’ Park before his May 2014 switch to Bournemouth, which has sparked a change in fortunes.
Advertisement
This is certainly a six-pointer between two teams looking likely to battling relegation.
Quizzed on whether he had any sympathy for his opposite number, Howe joked: “I’ve got too much going on here to have any sympathy for any manager!”
“We just thank Freddie for what he did do for us in the short time we had him”. We need to win and they need to win so, if I am selected, it would be a great game to be involved in.
“He will continue to improve with games, with the amount of time he has been out and I think there is more to come”. While Boruc (calf) and Cook (hip) could make a return to the squad for the game against Newcastle, the Cherries will be without striker Callum Wilson (ACL), Mings (knee) and Gradel (ACL) for the rest of the season.
The Magpies are available at 47/20 (3.35) with NetBet to bag a rare away victory when they face the Cherries, while the same firm go 5/2 (3.50) that this match ends all square.
Newcastle got their first clean sheet of the season with last Saturday’s goalless draw at home against Stoke City, and were left to rue a standout performance by Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland, who denied Newcastle three points, and grabbed himself SofaScore Team of the Week feature.
“Bournemouth is a lovely stadium, a really nice, tight, compact stadium with a fantastic playing surface and a good atmosphere and it’ll be made even better with our fans down there”.
“Hopefully, we can make their journey back a lot more pleasurable with a win”.
– Newcastle have only won two of their last 22 Premier League games (W2 D5 L15).
Advertisement
Steve McClaren’s side have yet to record an away win in the top flight this term and, in fact, have failed to win any of their last 12 Premier League matches on the road, scoring just three goals during that run.
