The Magpies travel to the Vitality Stadium for their opening away fixture of the current campaign, aiming for back-to-back victories following a 1-0 win against Southampton last weekend, despite playing over an hour with ten men at St. James' Park.

United will be without the services of Fabian Schär following his red card in last weekend's opening day win against Southampton but Howe, who played for and managed the Cherries, is hopeful the Magpies can build momentum in the opening stages of the new campaign.

Here are some of the boss' main talking points from his pre-match media briefing at the Newcastle United Media Centre on Friday morning:

On returning to Bournemouth, who he spent 11 years at as a manager:

"It's a fixture that means a lot to us as staff because of our time with the football club but I think it's never been any different.

"When you turn up for a game, you're there to win and to give your best, trying to do everything you can to get an all important three points for us currently.

"That will never change and never has changed. Hopefully, the focus is on the game and should be on the players that we have, and their players, competing against each other for what is a really important stage of the season.

"We have to try and start well, getting momentum in our season and we're thinking of nothing else but that."

On Lloyd Kelly, who joined the Magpies from this weekend's opponents last month:

"I think he's in good condition. He didn't have a lot of match action in pre-season which is always difficult. He trained for roughly around three weeks towards the end of pre-season, training really well, and I think he's made a really positive impact on the group.

"I've been really impressed with his performances. I thought he did really well when he came on at the weekend in a difficult situation for us and defended really well.

"I think he would say he is ready and, certainly, he's pushing for a start."

On captaincy roles:

“Jamaal (Lascelles) has been promoted to club captain, so he’s going to oversee the other captains. He’s an incredible leader behind-the-scenes, and Kieran (Trippier) and Dan (Burn) in the leadership group continue to lead as they were last season.

"They led really well when someone was down or injured. Someone else stepped in and Bruno (Guimarães) has been promoted but we need eleven leaders on the pitch, regardless of who wears the armband.”

On injuries:

"I don't think there's been much change. Matt Targett has now had a little bit more training under his belt. He had 45 minutes this week (during an under-21s clash against Sunderland) so that was good for him."

On Sandro Tonali, with the Italian midfielder eligible to return to competitive football from Tuesday, 27th August after a 10-month ban:

"I think he's shown real mental strength. I think you'll see a better player from this eventually and a much stronger person from it.

"Whenever you go through adversity and tough times, I think you do find more strength than you realise you had. It's been a long wait for him and he's handled himself impeccably.

"He's trained really well, been an excellent teammate and I think they will definitely rally around him and help him in these early stages.

"His training performances have steadily improved and got even better the closer it's got to his return so I think he's really focussed on that first game."