Eddie Howe has told his players to thrive in the "expectation" of Newcastle United's crunch clash with West Ham at St James' Park.
The Magpies can close the gap on David Moyes' side with a win to just a single point on what could be the final Europa Conference League slot. However, a defeat or draw could leave Howe's team with a mountain to climb, with that in mind is Newcastle's encounter categorised as a must win?
Howe told Chronicle Live: "They are all must win - I don't look at any game differently. We're back at home after a long period of time, our last home game was a good win for us. This will be a similar game, a very difficult game.
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"The expectation will be on us and we will try to embrace that. We will attack the game in the way we know we can and try to produce our best performance."
Even without a game for two weeks, the injury blows and squad setbacks have kept coming for Howe. He lost Sven Botman until potentially December after a decision on surgery and Lewis Miley could be missing for six weeks.
Throw in a potential extension to Sandro Tonali's ban, and the gloom of the 2023/24 season has simply continued, even in what was supposed to be a pause to the fixture list.
Howe said: "It's been challenging. You talk about the international break as a chance to recharge, but it certainly hasn't been like that for me! It's following suit from the rest of the season. There's been things thrown up that have been there to test us all the time.
"I think if we can come through this season in a positive way with a positive finish, I think we will look back on a season which has helped us grow. And I think we will be better for it in every sense. But we have to have that positive ending and that's what we are desperate for."
Indeed, Howe took the players away to Dubai and asked them to commit to better performances and improve their own personal displays in the last 10 games. In a behind closed doors trip, he admits that despite going out of the FA Cup to Manchester City, the short trip to the Middle East left everybody feeling better.
"We committed in the last two weeks to improve the performances of the team and the individuals who were left behind for the international break. It was a good chance (in Dubai) to change the environment for the players. Sometimes you can go away and the world feels brighter, even though we'd lost to Manchester City.
"After a couple of days you begin to focus on the future. I had a positive outlook and it was a good environment for us to work in We came back to Newcastle in a much better place and ready to commit to the rest of the season."
Newcastle now go in against a West Ham team that picked up a trophy last season in the shape of the Europa Conference League. The Hammers are enjoying Europe this term too in the Europa League and face Bayer Leverkusen over two legs in the weeks to come.
Incredibly, the position of David Moyes has been questioned by some West Ham fans despite trophy success and a European tilt via the Premier League this season.
Howe said: "It's crazy, he has been consistent in the Premier League for some time and you always know what you are going to get from his teams. He has done a great job there, silverware last year and a good consistent campaign last year. We're all under pressure and all in difficult jobs. A bad spell brings pressure and that goes with the territory now."
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