'We are ready': Eddie Howe says his Newcastle United side have been ready to play again for a while

Newcastle United must put the Carabao Cup celebrations behind them now as it's back to Premier League business on Wednesday night.

Brentford head to St James' Park to face the League Cup champions in their first game since their Wembley victory.

We expect the St James' Park crowd will be in full voice, still buzzing from the weekend's celebrations, and that is likely to filter down to the players too.

It has felt like a long two weeks since we last watched Newcastle in action, but Eddie Howe insists they are ready.

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Eddie Howe hasn't let his focus drop despite Saturday's festivities

An international break and trophy celebrations haven't derailed Eddie Howe from his main focus as the Newcastle gaffer told reporters (via The Chronicle) that his boys are ready to go again.

"Yeah, I think we are [ready to play again.] I think we enjoyed the break, I think we enjoyed sort of the line going through the cup final.

"I know we've had a bit of time to absorb what happened in that game. Thankfully it was positive, but I think now we're ready to play again. I think we've been ready to play again for a while.

"That's what we do and we're still in the middle of the season, so it's quite a long break, we have to try and navigate that as well as we can, with all the emotion around the game that you've just had.

"Hopefully we're ready to play. Of course we've had a split group, we've had quite small numbers. Only recently we've now got the group back together but I think we're focused."

Eddie Howe banned his players from drinking on Saturday

Alan Shearer revealed on The Rest Is Football Podcast that Newcastle trained before the Carabao Cup celebrations and Eddie Howe had an alcohol ban in place for the players on the night.

There'll be plenty of time to celebrate in the off-season, but for now, the lads have a job to do.

Champions League football is still the goal and attaining that starts at St James' Park on Wednesday night at 7:45pm when the Mags take on Brentford.