The Arsenal game will be ‘emotional’ for some Newcastle United players - here’s why

Monday’s Premier League clash with Arsenal is set to be the last time some players feature at St James’ Park in Newcastle United colours.

Ahead of a big summer of change on Tyneside, albeit it’ll be one of evolution rather than revolution, players are all-but guaranteed to depart in the coming months.

Who leaves remains to be seen but you can probably hazard a good guess at which players are at risk.

So when Howe and his Newcastle players gather for their lap of honour at full-time - that includes those left out the 25-man squad - against Arsenal, it’s fair to say some will be saying thank you to the fans for the final time.

“It’s difficult to speak about individuals, but I’m sure for some of my players, it may well be an emotional experience,” Howe admitted. I’m very much in the mindset that we have to be very appreciative of everybody’s efforts to our success this season in terms of the position we were in to where we are now.

“Everyone has played their part in that, whether they have participated on the pitch or not.

“I look at Ciaran Clark, Isaac Hayden and Jamal Lewis, who were not in the 25-man squad, but their attitude to that disappointment has been incredible. They’re still training with the group and they’ve not been negative or disappointed for a moment.

“It’s important that I highlight that because we haven’t achieved anything as individuals. It’s been the collective group that’s done it and full credit to everyone.”

Howe also admitted to having some “difficult decisions” to make over players’ futures at the end of the season. The former Bournemouth boss has created a genuine dressing room bond where everyone in it together.

It means offloading individuals he’s grown very appreciative of. But as Howe has pointed out in the past, that’s the way football works sometimes.

Howe said: “There are some difficult decisions to make and naturally, when you look at the squad we are top-heavy. We have a lot of players, players who missed out on the 25.

“As I said before, we’ll make decisions on every individual, we’ll try to do it in the right way.

“No decisions have been made yet, get the games out the way first and then we’ll make them.”