Lewis Miley Ready To Play Key Player Newcastle United

Newcastle United's young midfielder Lewis Miley has been asked to prepare for a key role in midfield (photo: nfc.co.uk)

JAKARTA - Newcastle United's young midfielder Lewis Miley has been asked to prepare for a key role in The Magpies' midfield as they seek to continue their struggle on three fronts amid an injury crisis.

The 17-year-old made an impressive debut at his Premier League home on Saturday, November 25 to help Magpies beat Chelsea 4-1 after seeing Joe Willock on the long injury list with recurrenced Achilles issues.

Willock could be out for some time as he awaits specialist advice for the next move, and with a Champions League trip Tuesday 28 November to Paris St Germain and the Carabao Cup quarter-finals to visit Chelsea will see Eddie Howe's men play 10 more games before the New Year. Miley has also been prepared to run in this team.

"The performance is generally very good. I think he's shown the calm we saw during pre-season - I think he's doing a very good pre-season, playing very well - and he's going to be a key player for us in the next few weeks," Howe said of Miley shortly after the game against Chelsea. "He has to improve and do what we know he can do."

Miley played an important role in the opener with a perfect pass that allowed Alexander Isak to turn and fired just 13 minutes after his comeback after a month of absence from a groin injury.

"The feed kind of represents him. To have that calm at that time when you were so young and put into your home debut, the temptation was to shoot, but he refused and the ability to find Alex, so it was a brilliant pass and also a brilliant finish," Howe said.

Raheem Sterling equalized with a free kick that was done beautifully in the 23rd minute, but Newcastle captain Jamaal Lasceles, whose mistake had caused the dead ball, made up for his mistake with a header before Joelinton took advantage of Thiago Silva's rare mistake to score the third goal.

Anthony Gordon completed Chelsea's defeat after full-back Reece James was sent off for a second yellow card foul, but Miley's contribution on the day Howe only had a residue player was extraordinary.

"Yes, I think we did it because he is six feet high and he is a man, he looks like a man in front of you, and also maturity. He doesn't behave like a 17 year old kid in general," Howe said of the young midfielder.

"But it's important we remember how young he was and we tried to protect him too. It's my job to do that and educate him in the right way on and off the pitch," Howe said.

"He comes from a very good family who will not let him go to the top in any way. It's up to the next game for him and us," Howe said.

In contrast, Pochettino was less impressed with the way Chelsea's youth team gave up on Tynese. The coach even accused them of making a "soft" appearance.

"As a team, we need to show different energies, different competitive capacity. For me, that's the key," said Pochettino, about Chelsea's defeat. "Big teams perform every week, every three days, this way. This is something we need to finish in the team."