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Eddie Howe says Newcastle must be alert to old friend Callum Wilson

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has put his defenders on red alert as old friend Callum Wilson returns to Tyneside intent on firing West Ham to Premier League safety.

The 34-year-old Hammers frontman spent five years with the Magpies, playing in the Champions League and collecting a Carabao Cup winner’s medal before leaving for West Ham last summer in the search for regular football.

“If you were to build the profile of a striker and you wanted the mentality of that player to be as good as it could be, he would fit that profile. He’s got an unbelievably positive attitude to scoring goals,” Howe said.

“He’s had some really difficult moments in his career that he’s had the resilience to fight back [from], and he’s still fighting and he’s still playing and he’s still scoring.

“He will back himself to score in any moment, any time on the pitch. Even if he’s given 10 minutes at the end he’ll back himself to score, so we need to be really alert to his qualities.“I know the lads know him very well so they will respect him immensely, our players, so whenever he’s on the pitch we’re going to have to defend really well.”

Eddie Howe and Callum Wilson worked closely together over several seasons (PA Archive)