Yes, it is early days in the top-flight but as the rest of the top five candidates go into European action this week, Howe has the full week to prepare his side for a big game at Fulham. Win it and Newcastle will spend Saturday night at the top of the table with Man City and Arsenal doing battle on Sunday.
Howe certainly has options against the Cottagers and the fact that Newcastle are yet to really gel also helps his cause when it comes to making unpopular decisions. The head coach and his backroom team don’t seem certain what the best back four is.
Lloyd Kelly was benched on Sunday in favour of Lewis Hall who had an up and down game at left-back. Tino Livramento also failed to hit the heights and was replaced by Kieran Trippier.
Although, while Trippier wants to start games he is not a bad Plan B if things start to go wrong after twice coming off the bench in away games to help seize a result. Howe’s centre-back situation is badly affected by injuries with Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles sidelined long-term.
Fabian Schar is pretty much an automatic pick but Dan Burn, Emil Krafth and Kelly are all fighting for the other spot. In midfield, Howe could pick Sandro Tonali to join Bruno Guimaraes and probably Joelinton in the engine room at Fulham. But Joe Willock looked very good at Wolves and has put forward a convincing case to start.
The front three surely has to feature Harvey Barnes after Jacob Murphy couldn’t reproduce his pre-season form against Wanderers. Barnes’ wonder goal wasn’t the only stand out feature of his display with the ex-Leicester City star having the home side on the back-foot for the majority of his time on the field.
