Newcastle United have Yoane Wissa 'problem' heading into January
Nick Woltemade or Yoane Wissa - who will lead Newcastle United’s attack at Burnley?
Eddie Howe is considering handing Yoane Wissa his first Premier League start for Newcastle United on Tuesday evening.
Newcastle visit 19th-placed Burnley in their final game of 2025. A year that will be fondly remembered for winning the Carabao Cup and qualifying for the Champions League hasn’t ended the way many would have hoped or perhaps even expected.
The Boxing Day defeat to an understrength Manchester United, coupled with results elsewhere, saw the Magpies slip to 14th in the Premier League table after 18 matches.
That said, United are still only six points off the top five but in order to try and close that gap on matchday 19, they must overcome some major away-day blues, having won just one of their last 12 league matches on the road.
Nick Woltemade or Yoane Wissa - Eddie Howe’s big Newcastle United striker decision
Something needs to change and one big decision that Howe is weighing up is who starts between Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa up top at Turf Moor.
Few can fault Woltemade, who has scored nine goals since joining for a club-record £69million from Stuttgart in the summer. But a common observation is that the German often looks isolated, particularly away from home, as evidenced during the defeat against Man United.
Wissa arrived from Brentford for £55m on summer deadline day but was unavailable for the opening three months of his Tyneside career after sustaining a knee injury on international duty with DR Congo.
The 29-year-old didn’t make his debut until the 2-1 win over Burnley on December 6. Since then, Wissa has made a further four substitute appearances, while he marked his only start with a goal in the 2-1 victory over Fulham in the Carabao Cup.
Newcastle United have Yoane Wissa ‘problem’ heading into busy period
Wissa is in a position to start against Burnley but the “problem” Newcastle have is that it would effectively rule him out of keeping his place at home to Crystal Palace.
Howe explained: “I think with Yoane, we've got to look after him. He's still relatively early in his return to full fitness. He did really well in his one start that he did against Fulham. I was really pleased with him on that day. There'll be other opportunities.
“The problem for us is with our schedule, playing every three or four days, I don't think he's in a condition where he could start regularly at the moment. But hopefully we can manage him to that point at some stage.”
In January, Howe’s side play nine games in 28 days, with a two-legged Carabao Cup semi-final against Manchester City and Champions League matches versus PSV Eindhoven and Paris Saint-Germain to come.