Golden nuggets from Howe before Newcastle host the hopeful Blues!
Newcastle United face Belgian champions Union SG in Brussels on Wednesday in their second Champions League group phase match.
Eddie Howe's side are still looking for their first European points of the campaign after losing to Barcelona earlier this month.
Union SG arrive in excellent form, having won their last five matches across all competitions, including a 3-1 away victory at PSV Eindhoven in their Champions League debut and three points ahead of NUFC in the UCL table.
The Belgium side also sits atop of the Belgian Pro League, unbeaten in nine games. Promise David has been key with five goals this season, while Kevin Rodriguez and Ousseynou Niang are expected to join him in attack midweek.
Newcastle, meanwhile, travel on the back of a painful late defeat to Arsenal in the Premier League, where they conceded twice after the 84th minute to lose 2-1. That result left Howe's side 15th in the Premier League table after six matches, adding to the pressure on both players and the gaffer to start coming up with some positive results once and for all.
Newcastle's only win in recent weeks came in the EFL Cup against Bradford City, hella subpar competition, with their Champions League campaign beginning in ugly fashion with a 2-1 home defeat to Barcelona.
Injury problems continue for Newcastle, adding wood to the club's fire. Tino Livramento faces a lengthy absence after suffering a knee injury against Arsenal, while Jacob Ramsey and Yoane Wissa remain sidelined. Fabian Schar and Lewis Hall are also doubtful.
Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman are expected to start in central defence, Kieran Trippier and Anthony Elanga should also make the XI, and Nick Woltemade will continue to lead the attack given the absolute lack of depth up front.
"They have started the season very, very strongly; they had a great result in the Champions League against PSV. They are tactically interesting, and they will give us a physical threat with two big strikers. I've been really impressed by watching them.
"We know it will be an important game on our Champions League journey. It's going to be a tough game. This will be a good challenge for us at a time in the season where we need to perform."
On the team's journey to Brussels...
"The journey was good - it was a very quick flight for us. We will train this afternoon. The squad is in a pretty good place, minus Tino (Livramento). We're still awaiting feedback on the extent of his injury but apart from that we are okay.
"We'll make a decision after training on how the players look physically; Arsenal was another really physical game for us, a tough game mentally, but physically it was a big output game for us so we will try and make the right decision in terms of team selection to make sure everyone is fresh."
On Nick Woltemade, who has scored twice in three starts for United...
"Great to see him score with his head. As I said when we signed him, we know he's a big player and that has to be a source of goals for him, with the height that he brings, and it's something we felt he could improve.
"But the two headers are all his own work and he deserves the praise for them because they're two outstanding moments and it shows that hopefully, once the team services him and gives him better balls in and around the box, there's other ways he can score as well. It's certainly a promising start."
On training at Lotto Park...
"I think it all depends on lots of different things, like the journey times, how we feel about certain training sessions, how much we want to give away our preparation.