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Eddie Howe's Newcastle United warning ahead of home meeting with Wolves

Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe <i>(Image: Owen Humphreys/PA)</i>
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe (Image: Owen Humphreys/PA)

EDDIE HOWE insists Newcastle United will be ‘taking nothing for granted’ as they prepare to tackle back-to-back home matches against Wolves and Bournemouth.

Having seen off Bromley in the FA Cup at the weekend, the Magpies return to league duty when they host Wolves at St James’ Park tomorrow night. They then return to their home stadium to host Bournemouth on Saturday lunchtime.

Their last two league outings have seen them win at Tottenham and Manchester United, and they are on an eight-match winning run in all competitions, so externally there will be an expectation that they will continue to sweep all before them in their next two games.

Wolves are struggling in 17th position, while Bournemouth are generally perceived to be exceeding expectations in the top half of the table, but while Newcastle will start both matches as favourites, Howe will be telling his players to expect a couple of tough tests.

“We're getting good results, but we take nothing for granted,” said the Magpies boss. “We now head into two home games and they'll both be very, very difficult games.

“Wolves are under a new manager (Vitor Pereira), Bournemouth are having a great season, so we've got two tough tests ahead of us.

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“But we're playing with confidence. I think the squad believes in itself, and we'll attack both games.”

Newcastle have had a sensational month, with their superb run of league victories being accompanied by a 2-0 win at Arsenal in the first leg of the semi-final of the Carabao Cup.

Howe was always confident his side would start to find some rhythm after an inconsistent start to the campaign, but given how difficult the recent fixture list has been, even he was not expecting such a lengthy run of victories.

“I believe anything is possible, but I think with the run of away games we had, that (winning eight games in a row) would have been a tough ask,” he said. “So, I think it’s been a monumental effort from the players.

“I'm just really pleased that we've found a consistent level of performance. We have put a run together, which we needed to. We've put ourselves in a much better position and now we need to keep it going.”