Eddie Howe: Newcastle need bigger squad to tackle Champions League challenge

Newcastle United head into Monday's match against Leicester City knowing that victory will guarantee them Champions League football next season.

A place in the Europa League is already safely in the bag but with two games left of the domestic season, it is European club football's elite competition that remains Newcastle's prime target.

After Thursday's 4-1 destruction of Brighton at St James' Park, the Magpies are tantalisingly close to securing a place at Europe's top table for the first time since losing in the qualifiifying round to Partizan Belgrade back in 2003.

And manager Eddie Howe is fully aware that careful planning and squad strengthening is priority during the summer, despite the club's Saudi-Arabian owners already backing him to the tune of £250 million-plus since being appointed in November 2021.

“We need to figure that out,” said Howe, whose side are third in the Premier League, four points ahead of Liverpool in fifth.

“If you have a strong squad, rotation will be important. Rotation is going to be important, utilising the whole squad is going to be important.

“We haven't felt the necessity to necessarily do that on a consistent basis because we've been in one competition – of course, we had the League Cup run. We have rotated to a degree, but maybe not in the numbers that we might need to next year.

“If you're going to do that, then the squad needs to be strong enough, so if you put out two XIs, they're of equal strength.”

As an energy-sapping season – broken up by the World Cup in Qatar – heads towards its finale, Howe's squad is feeling the pinch in terms of injuries and general fatigue.

Sean Longstaff and Jacob Murphy were already missing for the victory over Brighton which saw Joe Willock helped off