Eddie Howe regards Newcastle’s trip to Arsenal on Tuesday night as a litmus test of their true potential this season.
“I think we’ll learn a lot,” he said. “I think it’ll be a fascinating, high-level game that’s going to be really good examination of how far we’ve come.”
This time last year Howe’s Newcastle were 19th in the Premier League and embroiled in a relegation struggle. They have risen to third, nine points behind Mikel Arteta’s table-topping Arsenal.
If much of that transformation is down to the manager’s stellar coaching, £215m of transfer market investment on the part of the club’s Saudi Arabian majority owners has also helped.
Whether Newcastle are genuine top-four – or even title – contenders remains to be seen but opponents underestimate Howe’s players at their peril. Indeed Arteta remains stung by his side’s 2-0 defeat at St James’ Park last May.
Howe expects to see a rather different different Arsenal on Tuesday. “I think they were already on a journey of improvement last season but Arsenal have continued to grow from that moment,” he said. “I’ve watched a lot of them this year and been hugely impressed.
“Mikel’s done an incredible job and I’m sure our players will relish going against them at their stadium. Hopefully, we’ll learn some more about ourselves, and how far on we are in our journey.”
Howe is not keen on ceilings – or at least the sort that cap ambition – and has recently claimed “anything” is possible for his side this season. Yet even the 45-year-old accepts Newcastle’s ascent has been dizzyingly fast.
“You wouldn’t have thought we’d have been able to rise this quickly, but for me, we are where we are on merit,” said a manager particularly pleased with the progress of his former Arsenal midfielder Joe Willock.
“Joe’s maturing nicely,” he said. “He’s very athletic, he’s got an eye for goal, technically he’s very good, and tactically he’s improving. He’s been excellent. I’ve forged a good relationship with him and I really like him as a person. The big thing with Joe is that I know there’s a lot more to come; I’m excited about his future.”
The same could be said of Howe himself but, despite his side having lost only once all season Newcastle’s manager possesses far too much humility to fall into the sort of vanity trap which, in the past, has ensnared some similarly high-flying counterparts.
“If anyone gives you praise, and especially someone you respect, it’s very nice,” he said. “But I’m on very dangerous ground if I listen to it and believe it so I have to turn away from it. We’re just enjoying what we’re doing and hoping we can keep giving good performances.”
Howe believes pleasure is integral to success. “The players have to keep enjoying what they’re doing – that’s key to our second half of the season,” he said. “They shouldn’t feel burdened by expectation, or any of those types of emotion. They should be relishing the place we’re in and enjoying every second.
“I hope we keep our core mentality,” said Howe. “That’s all come from togetherness and the group being highly motivated, very conscientious in training and very committed to improvement with very driven players always acting in the right way on the team’s behalf. As long as we keep those core characteristics I think we can have another great year.
“That togetherness has taken us a long way – the players are fighting for each other and I have total faith in them. I love this group. We’ve got a really strong team and we can give anyone a very competitive game but, at Arsenal, we’ll have to prove it. If we do, our confidence will grow further.”