Howe prepared to make personnel changes to fix Toon troubles

Eddie Howe says he is not afraid to drop his big stars if it helps Newcastle turn their poor form around in the Premier League.

The Magpies fell to a 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day, with former Toon target man Chris Wood bagging a hat-trick.

It is the Tynesiders' fourth defeat in their last five top-flight fixtures and a gap is beginning to grow between themselves and the other Champions League challengers.

Howe said: "I'll be prepared to make any change that I think can benefit either the performance or the result and of course players are accountable for what they deliver.

"No amount of credit in the bank is big enough, you have to earn everything you get from the game.

"I'm a firm believer in that so players know they have to perform and we have to change our short-term form for sure.

"It will be nice to build up to games and training. I think we have suffered not having training ground time and the inability to rotate the team has caught up with us."

Newcastle have been hit hard by injuries in 2023-24 and may have to dip into the January transfer market if they are to climb the table.

The likes of Sven Botman and Harvey Barnes had been long-term absentees at St James' Park, while Sandro Tonali is serving a season-long suspension for breaching betting regulations.

Howe added: "Whenever you lose games it is an uncomfortable feeling when your team is not at its peak.

"You deal with a lot of emotions when you don't get the result you want. I am feeling that.

"I like to keep my thoughts and analyse properly and make tweaks and changes. 

"My gut feeling is that the answer lies within. The players we have are good enough. We have suffered those injuries. We have not had it easy. We are not at our best physically."

It will be a quick turnaround for Howe and his depleted squad as they return to action on January 1 away at Liverpool.