Eddie Howe has another selection headache on his hands ahead of Newcastle United's trip to Manchester United this weekend. Magpies defender Dan Burn has featured in eight of the Magpies' nine league games this season, impressing at both centre-back and left-back.
However, Saturday's 5-1 win over Brentford saw Burn, 30, put in arguably his weakest performance of what has been a solid campaign so far. As such, sections of the St James' Park faithful will want to see first choice left-back Matt Targett return to the fold if fully fit this weekend.
The former Aston Villa man has been a reliable figure since his arrival in January and has hardly put a foot wrong in a Newcastle shirt to date. Targett initially lost his spot to Burn earlier this season after suffering a dead leg and missing two fixtures.
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It's an important decision for Howe to ponder this week given whichever defender he chooses at Old Trafford will have their hands full thanks to the Red Devils' marquee signing of the summer, Antony. The Brazilian, who joined Erik Ten Hag's side for £86m, has hit the ground running for the Dutchman following his transfer in August.
Antony has found the net in each of his three Premier League appearances so far, becoming the first Manchester United player to achieve that feat. The 22-year-old has been accused of being a 'one-trick pony' by Old Trafford legend Paul Scholes but Ten Hag admits he is working to improve the former Ajax winger.
“We have to expect more from him,” said Ten Hag. “He needs challenges, that’s why he came to the Premier League and he gets that here. He wants to play with the best players and the highest stress factors and against the best players.
“He is a good dribbler but he also has to make more variations and in the first game he was not always that good defending-wise and also today he was really good, he was really disciplined and had good positioning, good anticipation and good pressing and he had quite an impact on this team performance.”
While Burn's position in the Newcastle starting XI isn't secure, the boyhood toon fan is certainly enjoying his time on Tyneside after joining the club back in January. “Back-to-back wins now, and another great result. To score five goals this week and four the weekend before leaves us really pleased," Burn admitted on Tuesday.
“We know they are behind us and when we play the way we play now it means they are there with us from the first minute. Obviously, even in victory, the first 10 minutes against Brentford were not easy. I thought they made it difficult. But obviously, we scored two quick goals which helped us.
“When you look at how the goals are being scored they are coming from us pressing and that’s what we do in training. We are just very pleased with it all and looking forward to the next game.”
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