Eddie Howe's team news update: Bruno pushing for return against Bournemouth | OneFootball

The Brazilian international has been out since February's 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur, missing the Magpies' last 12 games in all competitions - comfortably his longest absence since joining the club from Lyon in January 2022.

But United head coach Howe says his influential skipper has been "pushing really, really hard" to make the squad for the visit of the Cherries, as his side look to arrest their recent slide down the Premier League table.

Here are some of the main talking points from Howe's pre-match media briefing on Friday morning:

On whether Guimarães would play a part at the weekend...

"There is a chance. We've seen him training. He's pushing really, really hard to be back involved. The medical team are trying to hold him back - I say hold him back, but there's always that type of (situation) if the player wants desperately to play, and I love that about Bruno. I always have done.

"He's desperate to help the team, especially in this moment. I'll make a decision based on what I see today in training."

On his side's recent struggles...

"It's been a difficult period, of course, with results, and it's not where you want to live in my job - you want to live in the world of winning games, and the pitfalls that come with that are complacency. You want to really keep standards high to keep that feeling of winning and that momentum going.

"But this is a different moment. This is a moment where we have to critique ourselves honestly. There are some harsh words in terms of, 'our performance levels haven't been good enough', but at the same time, you have to protect confidence levels, you have to protect players' ability to go onto the pitch and execute what they need to, really, so it's a delicate balancing act.

"And also stay very level and calm, because you have to put things in perspective. A couple of games ago we were playing Barcelona in the Champions League, and if you react to distorted reality, you think that we can't play football again. You've got to keep that level head, believe in ourselves and go again."

On the run-in...

"The future's always the most important (thing). That's always how I look at it regardless of what's happened historically. Six games to finish the season on a really strong footing and a strong note is what we all have to do. We're all determined to try and do it.

"The training ground's had a different feeling this week, but that is really positive in the sense that we're really focused."

On Bournemouth...

"They're a very good team and they're on a great run in the Premier League recently as well. They've got clear strengths. We know what we need to do to win the game. Certain parts of the game we're going to have to function really well. We're under no illusions - this is a tough game."