The Anthony Gordon call Newcastle United must make vs Bayer Leverkusen after Eddie Howe admission
Anthony Gordon can be a key player for Newcastle United against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday night.
Eddie Howe has a bit of a selection dilemma ahead of the Champions League tie in Germany, as he has the added complication of the looming Tyne-Wear derby.
The Newcastle United manager will not be focusing too much on Sunderland, but that game will certainly come into his thoughts when he picks his XI to face Bayer Leverkusen.
This is our predicted Newcastle United XI to face Bayer Leverkusen! Are you making any changes?🤔
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Newcastle could change formation for the game at the BayArena, while there is also the temptation of starting Yoane Wissa for the very first time.
But amid all the uncertainties, the one player who must start for Newcastle United in Germany is Anthony Gordon.
Eddie Howe must give Anthony Gordon the chance to back up Newcastle United praise
The reason Gordon must start against Bayer Leverkusen is momentum.
While Bruno Guimaraes was exceptional against Burnley, Eddie Howe thought Gordon was Newcastle’s best player.
“I thought he was our best player today,” he said on Saturday.
“I thought he brought the threat for us, direct running, showed his pace, showed his technical quality. I’m very, very pleased with him today and he’s had an important spell.”
Photo by George Wood/Getty Images
I would agree with Howe. It was the most dangerous Gordon has looked in the Premier League in a long time, and he deserved more than the one goal he got in the 2-1 victory.
What the 24-year-old needs now is consistency. We have seen him go on impressive runs in black and white. He even did it last winter, despite the 2024/25 season proving to be difficult for Gordon.
With two goals in two games, Gordon must be given the chance to continue his upward trajectory. It will only be to the benefit of Newcastle, especially with the derby against Sunderland coming up on Sunday.
Should Howe put out a weakened team vs Bayer Leverkusen ahead of facing Sunderland on Sunday?👀
“I think we will pick a team that will be strong tomorrow and strong on Sunday, we have a few injuries to our backline which has been there for a few games now, we don’t necessarily have the depth at the moment, but we come here with a strong squad and we are ready for both games this week.”
Eddie Howe on team selection ahead of Bayer Leverkusen and Sunderland
Eddie Howe on team selection:
“I think we will pick a team that will be strong tomorrow and strong on Sunday, we have a few injuries to our backline which has been there for a few games now, we don’t necessarily have the depth at the moment, but we come here with a strong squad… pic.twitter.com/AknSsjmo2S
— Newcastle United (@NUFC) December 9, 2025
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Anthony Gordon has excelled in the Champions League for Newcastle United
On top of Gordon’s current form, he has been spectacular in the Champions League all season.
For a long time, it was the only competition the winger was succeeding in. The bright lights and biggest opponents were clearly motivating Gordon, who has got five of his seven goal contributions this season in the Champions League.
With Yoane Wissa available to dovetail with Nick Woltemade, Gordon no longer needs to worry about filling in centrally. That is certainly a boost.
He can solely focus on being a winger, scoring and creating goals for Newcastle United. He has done that in the Magpies’ last two games, and must get the chance to do it again on Wednesday night.
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