Eddie Howe outlines Leicester City expectation ahead of Newcastle clash

Eddie Howe has warned Newcastle United not to expect Leicester City to be suffering from a European hangover when the sides meet at St James’ Park on Sunday.

The Foxes have headed to the north east following Thursday’s 2-1 victory over PSV Eindhoven which secured their place in the Europa Conference League semi-finals. However, if Newcastle were hoping those exertions might prove a distraction, head coach Howe knows from experience that is unlikely to be the case.

“I’ve been in this situation before where we have played teams that have played in Europe and to be honest, my experience is it doesn’t have too much bearing on the next game,” said Howe, who has successfully guided the Magpies clear of the relegation zone since replacing Steve Bruce at the helm.

“They’ve got a squad to cope, a very good group of players. They’ve had a lot of injuries throughout the season, but they’ve now returned so the squad looks a lot stronger, and they’ve got a manager that’s very experienced in managing that situation.

“As I said, in my experience it’s never really influenced the next game at all, so we expect a full-strength Leicester, who are in very good form.”

Howe could have midfielder Joe Willock back from a knee injury, but winger Ryan Fraser is a doubt after limping off with a hamstring problem against Wolves last time out.