“Newcastle’s Rising Star Faces Unexpected Hurdle”

Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has waxed lyrical over Lewis Hall’s improvement at Newcastle United – but the young defender faces an immediate battle for a starting role in the boss’ Magpies XI.

Hall enjoyed a strong international break, impressing for England Under-21s as they beat Austria 4-1 on Monday evening. Helping himself to two assists in what was an excellent attacking showing, the former Chelsea left-back, 20, proved once again he is getting better and better with age.

Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has waxed lyrical over Lewis Hall’s improvement at Newcastle United – but the young defender faces an immediate battle for a starting role in the boss’ Magpies XI.

Hall enjoyed a strong international break, impressing for England Under-21s as they beat Austria 4-1 on Monday evening. Helping himself to two assists in what was an excellent attacking showing, the former Chelsea left-back, 20, proved once again he is getting better and better with age.

“Lewis is building in confidence all the time, you can see that from his early displays this season. He is playing with that confidence.”

But, in truth, it would be no surprise if Howe benched Hall for this weekend’s trip to Molineux to face Wolverhampton Wanderers. The full-back, who officially joined Newcastle permanently over the summer, started the opening Premier League clash with Southampton but has since been replaced by Lloyd Kelly in the two top flight fixtures since.

Kelly, who also joined the club in recent months, is building up his fitness and beginning to look more at home in Howe’s setup. He also appears to have the edge over Hall when it comes to the duo’s defensive ability.

With Newcastle struggling to dominate teams, and games, on the road in recent months, Howe is arguably more likely to go with Kelly given his side may struggle for possession. Hall is at his brilliant best when his team-mates see a lot of the ball and he can venture forward to offer support – something which may not occur on Sunday.

However, the youngster has admitted he is keen to work on his defensive ability as he fights for his spot in Howe’s starting XI.

“I want to be able to do both sides of the game,” Hall told Tyne and Wear TV this week. “I’ve always had the attacking quality, in my opinion, which I can still improve on.

“But defensively I’m trying to improve, and I feel like I have done that massively. I think there’s still a lot more improvement to be done defensively, and offensively as well.

“[I need to] keep working hard on the training pitch. The manager is really good with me, all of his assistants as well at Newcastle. They work really hard to improve not just me but the whole team. Hopefully I can get myself back into the team.”