Eddie Howe should now consider major tactical change against Arsenal on Saturday

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For the majority of his time as Newcastle United manager, Eddie Howe has stuck with the same formation.

The Magpies always use 4-3-3, with Eddie Howe‘s midfield playing a key role in protecting the defence and launching attacks with their running power.

However, that has been tougher this season due to the injuries. Joe Willock and Joelinton have been big misses in that respect, although the former is now back in training after an Achilles problem.

Elsewhere, Newcastle are also struggling at left-back. Dan Burn is massively out of form, with calls getting louder and louder for him to be replaced by Tino Livramento.

Teams are constantly targeting Burn, and something needs to change on Saturday against Arsenal. We have seen Bukayo Saka torment the 31-year-old before, and we can’t afford for that to happen again.

Last season at the Emirates, Howe played Joelinton deeper to support Burn, but that is not going to be possible this weekend.

Instead, this could be the ideal time for Howe to tweak his formation and utilise a back five.

Eddie Howe could change Newcastle’s formation against Arsenal

That would allow Livramento to come into the team without dropping Burn. The former could be the left wing-back, while the latter could be the left-sided centre-back. They would be able to work together to limit Arsenal’s attacking power down that flank.

It is a tactic we saw Howe use at Villa Park earlier this year. He made the change in the latter stages of the game, when Leon Bailey was causing Burn real problems. The shift to a back five shut it down, and allowed Newcastle to hold on for victory.

This time the back five would be used from kickoff, which may be viewed as a negative approach. However, we are coming up against a rampant Arsenal side who have scored 21 goals in their last five games. And it is also an Arsenal side that will want revenge for what happened at St James’ Park earlier this season.

Newcastle will be asked to do a lot of defending at the Emirates, and that is why shifting to a back five might be a good idea.