Eddie Howe will hope that his Newcastle United players return for Premier League duty feeling refreshed after their sunshine training camp in Dubai.
Just a year ago, Howe's stars returned from the Middle East and recorded six wins out of nine in the top-flight. Before that a warm weather training camp in Jeddah has proved to be the catalyst for a good run in the new year of 2022.
Newcastle returned from their first trip to Saudi Arabia and went on an unbeaten run between February and March. They beat Everton, Aston Villa, Brentford, Brighton and Southampton and drew with West Ham.
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That set of results put Newcastle 10 points clear of the drop zone in March 2022. And when the team returned from Dubai last spring, they went on a run of six wins from nine to finish 11th in the table and helping themselves to a tally of 49 points overall for the season - not bad for a team that looked doomed in December 2021.
And bringing us right up to date with the response from Newcastle after their stay in Riyadh at Christmas the results were clear again. Back then Newcastle chalked up an away win at Leicester to climb to second before a seven game unbeaten run in the Premier League, as well as reaching the final of the Carabao Cup final.
This time around Howe's squad know that a similarly strong end to the season could push them to either the Champions League or Europa League. Here's a look back on what Howe has said previously about warm weather training camps.
A change in scenery
Howe on conditions last year: "There’s been a really intense period of games, a lot of away games as well, so we decided to give them some free time to unwind and enjoy the sun for a couple of days"
Using the same facilities as Arsenal and Man United
Howe said: "We’d used the facilities a number of times historically and for me, it’s one of the best training arenas in the world. I think it’s first-class facilities.
"First of all, a first-class pitch, but the facilities around the pitch are second-to-none. The gym, we took the boys into the altitude chamber today, which they really enjoyed. Swimming pool, hyperbaric chambers, cryotherapy chambers, we utilized everything we could to help the players physically."
Getting injured players back quicker
Newcastle set off for Dubai with Anthony Gordon, Callum Wilson and Fabian Schar nursing knocks and illness, Howe said about the facilities last year: "When you really want to push the players physically, you need to have the highest level of recovery equipment to utilize and I think we have that here."
