Eddie Howe shares his pride that Newcastle are doing so well despite tough start to season

Eddie Howe met the media this morning ahead of Saturday's big game with Arsenal.

Newcastle were always going to find it hard to live up to the success of last season: a top-four Premier League finish along with a Carabao Cup final.

With the added pressure of the Champions League and the fact that Liverpool were unlikely to have such a poor season again, Newcastle weren't expected to repeat last season's achievements.

Newcastle could easily curse their luck and let the season get away from them but that's not how we roll

Outside of the expectations, Newcastle are having rotten luck with injuries and the 10-month suspension handed down to their big summer signing.

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Yet, despite all that, The Mags are in the top six of the Premier League, they're holding their own in the Champions League and are now in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup.

Eddie Howe has every right to be feeling good about things as he told the media this morning (via The Chronicle) that he's extremely proud of his side.

"I am proud of the players.

"It was always going to be tough and we knew that at the start - there's been no change to that.

"We've been dealt some really difficult blows. It's not been plain sailing for us, we have had to be resilient and robust and deal with some challenges. I have to compliment the players on how they have been, the challenge never gets easier."

January onwards will likely see an even better Newcastle United this season

We can't wait to see how things are going to go when we get the five first-team players back from injury for the second half of the season given how well our wounded squad is doing without them.

The back half of the season is where we believe Newcastle will really kick on with the squad hopefully back to full health and potential January additions.

As things stand, we'd be hard-pressed to find much to complain about beyond bad luck so far this season.