Eddie Howe hints that Lewis Miley will start against Nottingham Forest on Sunday after good showing on Saturday

Newcastle United's 18-year-old sensation, Lewis Miley was about the only player to keep any dignity after last week's humiliation by Manchester City.

Academy graduate Miley replaced Joe Willock at half time and wasted no time getting stuck into the champions and trying to turn the game around.

Unfortunately, nobody around him had any similar levels of enthusiasm and his efforts were ultimately wasted.

However, Eddie Howe did single him out of praise after the game, citing him as the only real positive from the afternoon.

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Eddie Howe confirms that Lewis Miley is a strong contender to start against Nottingham Forest

Speaking to the media this morning, Eddie Howe was asked about Miley and whether he's put himself into this thinking for Joelinton's spot while the Brazilian is injured.

"I think he's very much in and around that [midfield] position at the moment. I think his performance against Manchester City, as you say, was probably the one big positive to take from the game because there wasn't many.

"He approached the game in a way that really we should have done from the start. He was brave in both phases, aggressive, off the ball, brave on the ball. Fearless in his approach and I thought he played very strongly."

Joe Willock falls apart like a dunked Rich Tea biscuit whenever he starts for Newcastle

It was abundantly clear after 45 minutes last week that Joe Willock is not the answer, so it surely has to be Miley's turn to try and take the place of J7. Eddie seems to be phasing out Sean Longstaff ahead of a likely summer departure, so surely it's time to reinstate the wonderkid.

We aren't sure what's happening to Joe Willock, but it seems that substitute Willock is infinitely better than starting XI Willock, so Howe's going to have to just keep him on the bench to impact games late on similar to Harvey Barnes.

It's great having those options, but we expected more from both of them to be honest.