Eddie Howe reacts to Newcastle United’s late Everton loss as he points to ‘lack of quality’ after tough run

Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe has backed his side to come back ‘firing’ after suffering defeat following a bruising run of Premier League fixtures.

United completed a hat-trick of away trips in the last eight days with a late, late defeat to 10-man Everton at Goodison Park. Alex Iwobi’s 98th minute strike was enough to split the sides, around 10 minutes after Allan was shown a straight red card for a foul of substitute Allan Saint-Maximin.

The loss is United’s second on the bounce - following on from another late strike, that time by Kai Havertz, which saw them beaten at Chelsea - book-ending a run prior to that of nine without loss.

And Howe, who now takes his side to the United Arab Emirates for some warm weather training, before a trip to Tottenham Hotspur on April, believes his side did not show enough quality to necessarily win the encounter.

“Very disappointing,” Howe said, speaking to Amazon Prime.

“First half we were the better team. We didn't really come out of the traps, I don't know why that second half was just lacking in that bit of quality from our perspective.

“Even with ten men, we didn't really show the dominance you'd expect with the extra man.

“I don't think we deserved to lose the game, and from our perspective it was our game to win - but we didn't take that opportunity.”

On the recent run, Howe added: “I think we said all along this was a very difficult run for us - a lot of away games in succession. Sometimes that is difficult.

“We suffered a late defeat at Chelsea, and a late defeat here. It is small margins.

“In both games we haven’t conceded a lot of chances against us, we have maybe just lacked the quality you would expect.

“We will have to (rest up and take stock). It is disappointing to do that off the back of two defeats but we have to accept that. It is what it is and we need to come back firing.“