EDDIE HOWE admits he made a conscious decision to keep his changes to a minimum in the last month, both in terms of his starting selections and his substitutions within a game.

And while he accepts that has subjected a number of his Newcastle United players to an extremely heavy workload, he feels a run of six successive victories has more than justified his decision-making.

While some Premier League managers have made wholesale alterations during the Christmas and New Year period, Howe has stuck with the same core group of players for all of his side’s games.

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Eight players – Martin Dubravka, Dan Burn, Lewis Hall, Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali, Jacob Murphy, Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak - have started the last five league matches and the Carabao Cup quarter-final over Brentford.

A number of those players were out on their feet as the final whistle blew at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium yesterday, but will almost certainly be asked to go again when Newcastle take on Arsenal in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final at the Emirates on Tuesday afternoon.

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Howe accepts his key players have been asked to play a lot of minutes in the last three weeks, but feels that was necessary to enable his side to rediscover a winning rhythm.

“Of course, that’s (the workload) something I’m really aware of,” said the Newcastle boss. “We went through a spell where we were very inconsistent with our performances and results, so I made a conscious decision to try to be consistent with my team selection, to try to give the best chance to get consistent results.

“We’ve started to win games, so I’ve been very reluctant to change things or unbalance what’s been working for us. Sometimes, even within a game, I haven’t wanted to change the dynamic too much unless I’ve felt like I’ve absolutely had to.

“We need to assess how the players feel because we’re certainly going to need energetic players for Arsenal. That’s going to be a physical game.

“It’s a very quick turnaround, but it’s the same for Arsenal and, if anything, they’ve had a harder schedule than us in the last few days. So, let’s see how we feel.”