Stuart Pearce has offered a warning to Eddie Howe ahead of Newcastle United’s FA Cup tie against Sunderland this weekend.
Howe is under a lot of pressure having lost seven of his last eight games in all competitions and this fixture against Sunderland could be a huge turning point in his future.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Pearce has warned Howe not to rest any of his important players and to go all out for the victory on Saturday as there is plenty of time to recover afterwards.
Newcastle have struggled massively with injuries this season
Newcastle have hardly been able to catch a break this season with all the added fixtures as well as an unexpected amount of injuries which has forced Howe to play the same team over and over again.
The likes of Harvey Barnes and Joe Willock, who were meant to be key members of the first-team, have been unavailable for most of the season through injury and are hoping to return by the end of January.
Howe will therefore want to be cautious with how he utilises his squad throughout the rest of season, wary of who may the next to add to the injury list, but this isn’t a game he can afford to lose.
Due to being knocked out of the Champions League and Carabao Cup last month, Newcastle’s January fixture list looks a lot kinder so Pearce has encouraged the head coach to go all out with his team selection against Sunderland and rest his players in the following days.
On talkSPORT, Pearce said: “I don’t think he can afford to [rest players]. Plus on the back of that they have a week off.
“Then you can rest players and let them put their feet up or give them a week off.
“He can’t afford to do something like that on the back of a Sunderland defeat.”
Newcastle simply must beat Sunderland
There is quite literally no other option, Newcastle must leave the Stadium of Light on Saturday having beaten Sunderland and booked their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
A loss, not only to a Championship side but to their biggest rivals, could possibly be the biggest disappointment of this season and have huge knock-on effects for the rest of the campaign.
Newcastle are already on a downward trajectory so a defeat could speed it up even further and cause the form to spiral out of control heading into the next few games.
Opposingly, a win could be the huge morale boost that the team and supporters need right now to propel them into climbing back up the table in the second half of the season.
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