EDDIE HOWE has warned his struggling Newcastle United players that “no amount of credit in the bank” will safeguard them from some tough selection decisions if their miserable end to the year continues into 2024.

This afternoon’s 3-1 home defeat to Nottingham Forest means Howe’s players have now lost six of their last seven matches, with the last month also having featured exits from both the Champions League and Carabao Cup.

Things are unlikely to get much easier any time soon given that their next two Premier League matches pit them against Liverpool and Manchester City, games that sandwich the small matter of a Wear-Tyne derby against Sunderland in the third round of the FA Cup.

Howe has tended to be extremely loyal to his first-choice starters, with a string of injury issues having limited his ability to make wholesale changes in the last few weeks.

However, with the likes of Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn and Miguel Almiron all struggling for form, the Magpies boss insists he is ready to make some difficult selection calls if the situation merits it in the next few weeks.

“All options are open to us at all times,” said the Newcastle boss, who watched former Newcastle striker Chris Wood condemn his side to defeat as he claimed a hat-trick at St James’ Park. “But I think you’ve got make a change that you feel benefits the team.

“I’ll be prepared to make any change that I think can benefit either the performance or the result and of course players are accountable for what they deliver.

“No amount of credit in the bank is big enough, you have to earn everything you get from the game. I’m a firm believer in that, so players know they have to perform and we have to change our short-term form, for sure.”

Newcastle’s latest defeat came despite them taking the lead through a first-half penalty from Alexander Isak.

Wood rounded off a counter-attacking move that swept from end of the pitch to the other to level the scores in first-half stoppage time, and scored again when he skipped past Burn early in the second half before rounding Martin Dubravka to slot home.

The former Newcastle striker then completed his hat-trick and Trippier and Tino Livramento played him onside as he raced on to a through ball from Murillo.

“We have been playing two games a week, week after week and some players aren't used to that,” said Trippier, in a post-match interview with Amazon Prime. “My standards have dropped.

“I'm old enough to speak about myself, and my standards have been nowhere near. But I've faced enough set-backs in my career to know I can bounce back.”