Eddie Howe believes that the unprecedented World Cup break in the Premier League should not distract Newcastle United from their rich vein of form.
The Newcastle head coach leads his team into battle against Aston Villa this weekend at St James' Park knowing they can stretch their unbeaten run to eight matches. But before the Premier League splits ahead of the Qatar tournament, Howe knows there are some huge games to consider.
United kick off their pre-World Cup sequence against Villa before next weekend's long trip to Southampton. Newcastle then round off their autumn programme against Crystal Palace in the cup and at home to Chelsea.
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Howe said: "The World Cup will have an interesting dynamic on the season this year. We know we have three Premier League games and a very important cup game to go before that break.
"We're determined to try and keep that momentum until that break and then dust ourselves down, regroup and go again.
"There's no guarantee because you can lose to anyone in the Premier League. If you drop below where you need to be and there's certain expectations of yourself that we know we have to hit, so the fundamentals of our performance have to be there which they have been in the last group of games.
"I've been really impressed with how we've attacked every challenge that we've faced and have not taken a step back at all. It's really important, in this moment, that we don't do that."
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