'We've got the right person': Shay Given talks down claims that Eddie Howe is under pressure

There's no shying away from the fact that Newcastle United have had a less than perfect start to the season as is evidenced by the fact that they currently sit 12th in the Premier League.

Next up for the Magpies is a visit to St James' Park for Arsenal which has the potential to be an explosive game after the corresponding fixture last season.

Whatever the atmosphere ends up being, it's going to be a tough 90 minutes for Newcastle who need a win to get back into the top half of the league but Arsenal will be pushing to keep pressure on Liverpool and Manchester City in the title race.

Newcastle beating Chelsea in midweek with a convincing display has restored some faith to the Toon Army, and we'd like to think that the majority of fans will have tempered their expectations ahead of the Arsenal game and won't lose their heads if things don't go our way.

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Shay Given says Eddie Howe is still the right man for the job

That being said, there is certainly a portion of the fanbase that are starting to turn on Eddie Howe and are making noises that it's time for a change due to the slow start to the campaign.

Former Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given has recently been speaking about whether he feels Eddie Howe is under pressure to Radio 5 Live (h/t Newcastle World).

“Every Premier League manager is under pressure after a couple of bad results. But I don’t think Eddie comes under that bracket, I really don’t. I think Eddie Howe is Newcastle United for the long term.

“I think the owners have a lot of time and respect for Eddie. It was a frustrating summer and Eddie Howe maybe didn’t get the players that he wanted in the transfer window and that’s been a frustration for fans and anyone connected to the club.

“He hasn’t had the supply, [Marc] Guehi was probably the big one in the summer, he really wanted him in, but couldn’t get the deal done. I thought they should have a plan B in place but they didn’t.

“It’s just frustrating this season because you roll back 12 months and there was Champions League football in Paris, Dortmund and Milan and now they’re mid-table. I don’t think it’s time for panic, with Eddie Howe at the helm we’ve got the right person, he just needs to get back to winning ways and the club will be fine.”

In Eddie we trust!

We have moaned about Eddie Howe plenty of times as we feel he's got certain things wrong, and his reluctance to try new things grinds our gears, but we're far from wanting that axe to fall just yet.

However, we do think that his performance this season will determine whether or not he's at the club next year as the good will he's built up in the first two seasons has likely expired by now.

So there is certainly some pressure on Howe, but as Shay Given said, every manager feels the pressure at some point.