Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe says that the challenge has now moved on for his Toon stars.

From the depth of despair and the need to stop the rot after the 4-2 defeat at Brentford, Newcastle are now at the other end of the spectrum. A four-game pre-Christmas win-less run has been followed by wins galore but can Howe's players make it eight against Bromley?

Not since the 2016/17 season, in the Championship season under Rafa Benitez have Newcastle won eight competitive games on the spin, although there is some distance to go to the club's best ever winning run of 13 consecutive wins between May to October 1992 was chalked off by Kevin Keegan. Nevertheless, the Magpies are in their best form since what ended up being a nine-game hot streak under Rafa in 2016.

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Under Howe, they find themselves in the best form since a five-game winning run in 2023 on their way to the Champions League. In high level sport they say it is harder to stay at a high level rather than to get there.

Howe did not disagree when Chronicle Live put that theory to him at his Friday morning Press conference. He told us: "That is the challenge. That is why I say the biggest compliment I can give the players is how they have conducted themselves in the last three games."

It is worth taking a breath and reflecting on those last three matches too. Fans are on a genuine high after beating Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal away from home.

Howe was delighted with many aspects of his stars and reflected: "There was no drop off in focus or energy levels. We kept going right until the end."

The prudent head coach knew that his players were in need of a break after three consecutive away games and took the opportunity to afford them one in between the Arsenal clash and the Bromley game. Newcastle will field a rotated XI against the League Two side.

Howe said: "I think we have been fortunate now that we had a tiny little break in a tiny little schedule to try to refresh the players, to try to make sure they have energy again and try to make sure they are not overloaded with information in games.

"Sometimes that can lead to a tail-off in performances. But now we can't lose focus again. We have a big spell of games coming up and we don't want anything to derail that."