LONDON: Eddie Howe has called for unity as Newcastle United鈥檚 Premier League struggles continue to derail their season.

The Magpies suffered a 4-1 hammering at the hands of Arsenal at the Emirates, with a Sven Botman own goal, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Jakub Kiwior sealing all three points for the title-chasing Gunners. Newcastle scored a late consolation via former Arsenal man Joe Willock.

The result sees them fall further behind in the race to try and qualify for Europe again next season. And while criticism is building 鈥� the Magpies鈥� form since December is bottom six, rather than top six 鈥� head coach Howe has called for everyone to stick together, saying that is the only route to success.

鈥淲e need to stick together. There鈥檚 only one way for success, and that鈥檚 for the club to be as one,鈥� said Howe.

鈥淲e know that our run of form has not been as consistent as we want it to be. Coming here I think we were unbeaten in five, so I don鈥檛 think it was all bad, but this defeat, we鈥檒l have to take on the chin and we鈥檒l have to come back stronger for it.

鈥淚 think Joe鈥檚 (Willock) cameo was excellent and I think again he showed exactly what we鈥檝e missed from him and his qualities of attacking the box late and getting goals. Alex鈥檚 (Isak) return was a huge positive and hopefully improved for that 60 minutes. Apart from that I鈥檓 struggling to find too many more.鈥�

Just the Premier League bottom three plus Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth have conceded more goals than the Magpies this season. The 45 goals already conceded this campaign, far outstretches the 33 they let in for the whole of the 38-game Premier League season in 2022/23.

Newcastle鈥檚 defensive record is a continuing concern for Howe, who says his coaches and his players are working to turn things around.

Howe said: 鈥淚 mean, with every game that goes by and we concede goals, it鈥檚 a concern.

鈥淥f course, we鈥檙e working on lots of things behind the scenes to try and improve that, but that probably wasn鈥檛 evident in the performance.

鈥淚 keep saying the same thing regarding conceding goals. It鈥檚 collective. Last year, we had that collective mentality that we weren鈥檛 going to concede. Even the game coming here last year, we were magnificent in collective defending from the front to the back. I don鈥檛 think we鈥檝e lost the desire to do that. We鈥檙e just not as competent at the moment at doing it than we were. We need to refind that solidity.

鈥淥f course, it comes from work on the training ground. I think it comes from a collective responsibility, really, and a focus to make that your priority. I think we have attacking players. I think we鈥檒l have players always that will score goals and create moments for us that could win us games, but at the moment we鈥檙e sort of taking that away from ourselves by not defending properly.鈥�

With European hopes hanging by a thread, attention now turns to the FA Cup, Newcastle鈥檚 only remaining hope for silverware. Howe鈥檚 men travel to Championship outfit Blackburn Rovers in the fifth round of the competition on Tuesday evening.

鈥淎s I said, in really, really challenging situations, the players have really stuck together. We have to do that now for Blackburn,鈥� said Howe.

鈥淲e have to look at this as the biggest game of our season. And, yeah, there鈥檚 a lot resting on this next game.鈥�