Eddie Howe named an unchanged team to pick up a second win on the trot for the first time this season. Last week’s dominant 4-1 win at Fulham gave Eddie Howe the impetus to keep the same team.

The group outdid themselves today with the 5-1 win over Brentford at St. James’ Park on the day after the one-year anniversary of the takeover. With the two wins, Newcastle have climbed to 5th in the table with the 5th-best goal difference.

After the match, Howe said the following about the benefit of naming an unchanged team as published in The Northern Echo:

“I was able to protect a couple of players. Maxi is only just back training with us, and entering the first stages of his recovery, so we didn’t have to start him.

“Joelinton, we were able to give another week to his knee, to recover. They were huge positives because entering a three-game week, we’re going to need the whole squad.”

Both Saint-Maximin and Joelinton came on in the second half. If all goes well this week, they’ll be in contention for Manchester United next Sunday. As Howe stated, the pace picks up with Everton at home that Wednesday before the week closes with a Sunday trip to Tottenham.

There will be chances for players to impress during that week with Alexander Isak potentially also making his return. Newcastle are slowly recovering from the injury issues that plagued the month of September.

The lopsided scorelines have also enabled Howe to replace his stars late. For the second week in a row, Howe withdrew Bruno Guimaraes, Callum Wilson, and Kieran Trippier. Those early exits will help with recovery.

Howe was asked about Bruno, who put in a masterclass this afternoon. He opened his account in the first half with his header to get Newcastle off the mark. He added a superb strike in the second half to suck the wind out of Brentford after trimming their deficit to one goal.

Saint-Maximin made his entrance with Guimaraes being taken off after receiving treatment on the pitch. His issue didn’t seem serious and Howe gave the following explanation of the substitution:

“I said to him to run himself out, and then once he was done, let me know.

“I think the beauty of Bruno is that he won’t let the team down – when he gets to the point where he’s finished and done, he’s obviously building up his fitness levels after his injury, then he takes responsibility and lets me know. I was able to withdraw him.”

Newcastle suffered without Bruno earlier in the season. He’s been back to his best these past two weeks. The Brazilian is integral to the way Newcastle play and there is currently no apt replacement in the squad.

Kieran Trippier has a similar level of impact on this team. The bench was again without a natural replacement for the 32-year-old, who again got a deserved breather late. Matt Targett was brought on for Kieran.

Howe said the following about Trippier’s removal:

“He (Trippier) just had a bit of fatigue I think today. He’s come back from England duty where he didn’t play, and that two weeks can sometimes just knock a player’s normal routine and schedule.

“Touch wood, there’s no injury with him, but we’re just trying to look after him really and get him through these games.”

At the moment, it looks like Newcastle will not have any fresh injury concerns ahead of the trip to Old Trafford. Howe has an extra day to prepare for the Red Devils with confidence soaring after two impressive wins in a row.

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