'We owe it to everybody' - Eddie Howe demands a performance on Saturday

Newcastle United face Arsenal at the Emirates on Saturday evening in the 5:30pm kick-off live on Sky Sports.

Arsenal are falling behind in the title race, dropping down to second in the league by virtue of goals scored, while Newcastle are falling behind in everything.

With just five games remaining and no form to speak of, Newcastle's European hopes look to be dead and buried. In fact, it's starting to look like we won't even finish above Sunderland in the league, and really, who had that on their betting slip?

The Magpies are playing for pride now, and after the last few performances, they're playing to show the fans they still care.

Eddie Howe demands a performance from his team

Eddie Howe said as much in his pre-match press conference on Friday morning when he was asked about the team's confidence heading into the game, saying that they owe everyone a performance.

"It is definitely an opportunity for us. The next game is an opportunity to prove ourselves, and we owe it to everybody at the club to try and get a result, like we did at Chelsea. 

"When you have been in a difficult run, it can feel like you've been in it a long period of time, particularly with an international break. I was pleased going into Palace, and we didn't perform. 

"I was pleased going into Bournemouth and we didn't perform. I have been pleased this week, and hopefully we will see the fruits of our labour. I see a group that is switched on and a group that is hurting because of the results this season."

Just show us some effort, lads

The gutless performance against Bournemouth in front of the St James' Park crowd felt like a particular low point. We could almost excuse that kind of performance away from home (almost, but not really), but to play like that on your home turf, that's inexcusable.

So Howe is spot on when he says that they owe it to everybody to try and get a result on Saturday. And in truth, if we can see that they have actually tried, that would be a massive improvement.

If we run at Arsenal for 90 minutes and push them all the way but still come away with nothing, at least we can hold our heads up, and we can start to imagine that things could turn around in the last four games. 

'We don't demand a team that wins, we demand a club that tries.' Wasn't that the motto?