'We need to go back': Eddie Howe tells TNT Sports what he feels NUFC need to do to get back into Europe

In his first full season in charge at Newcastle United, Eddie Howe got the club back into the Champions League for the first time in 20 years.

Unfortunately, an under-developed squad combined with a shocking number of injuries made life difficult for the Magpies in the following season and with a sprinkle of bad luck thrown in, Newcastle failed to get out of the group stages of the Champions League after being drawn in the 'Group of Death'.

Newcastle gave a decent account of themselves and almost slipped into the knockout stages but for a controversial decision to award Paris Saint-Germain a last-minute penalty in the final group game.

Still, it was fantastic being back involved in Europe's elite competition after such a long absence and that has set the bar for the club ever since.

Eddie Howe says Newcastle need to get their belief back

Newcastle haven't really started the season how they'd have liked and are well off the pace in the race for a top four finish, but it is early days yet and a good run could easily put them back in contention.

Ahead of today's 12:30pm kick-off against Arsenal, TNT Sports' Lynsey Hipgrave, a Newcastle fan herself, caught up with Eddie Howe and took a trip down memory lane, touching on the Champions League nights with Hipgrave asking what the club needs to do to get back there. Howe said that it's about the mood in the squad more than anything.

"I don't necessarily know if it's what we need from the club, I think it's just together, collectively as a group, I think we need to go a little bit back to the time that we did qualify, the unity we had, the focus we had and the belief we had in what we were doing. We were so strong that year and for me they are the keys to success."

A good performance today will set us on the right path even if we lose

A win over Arsenal today, which you can see on TNT Sports, would definitely go a long way to reviving that belief and the unity that Howe was speaking about.

The troubles with injuries last season followed by a tumultuous off-season have knocked the club back a step or two it feels like, but the win over Chelsea on Wednesday, and more importantly the overall performance, should be a sign that the belief is starting to come back.

We're not expecting a win this afternoon, Arsenal can be beaten, especially at St James' Park, but early kick-offs are rarely kind to us, so today is all about performance for us and then carrying that into the game against Nottingham Forest next week and coming away with a convincing win there.