Eddie Howe has thrown down gauntlet to Newcastle United players to perform in Paris on Wednesday night
Newcastle United take on Paris Saint-Germain in the final league game of the Champions League on Wednesday night. Kick-off is at 8 pm live on TNT Sports.
Newcastle have an unbeaten record against the French champions; it would be a spotless record of two wins out of two were it not for UEFA's archaic rules around handball.
Of course, history counts for nothing when the game kicks off and the Magpies will be well aware that they are going up against the current Champions League holders.
Rather than be intimidated, though, Eddie Howe is hoping to use this pressure as a positive and has urged his players to rise to the occasion.
Eddie Howe wants his players to use the game at PSG to answer questions about their form
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Howe said that he wants his players to use this game to answer those questions of doubt that have been rising to the surface of late. (He must be reading NUFCFEED).
"This will be a really good game to answer questions and show ourselves we can be effective. We will set the team up to do that and the players must then play at their maximum level.
"We have to try and enjoy every moment; they are so precious. We want to enjoy it, experience all the highs and lows it brings. We are all determined to do as well as we can, this will be a great game for us tomorrow, we want to win, we are conditioned to be that way."
Newcastle fans need something to shout about heading into two of the worst away fixtures of the season after tomorrow
This season, our players have tended to rise to the big occasion; it has been in the more routine games that we've felt like there has been a lack of effort.
Anthony Gordon is massive for us in the Champions League, but we'd drop him in a heartbeat in the Premier League, where he's given precisely naff all this season.
Tomorrow is the perfect opportunity to get the fans back on side after a rollercoaster week which ended with a dip. They're going to need the Toon Army fully energised to get them through the next few games and the best way to do that is to get a monumental win under the belt tomorrow.
