The Toon host Arsenal in the early kickoff fresh from their Carabao Cup win against Chelsea.
Howe said, "They are a very good team with a very good manager. We play one of the most consistent teams in the Premier League for the last couple of years so the challenge for us is never easy, but we’re at home.
"Arsenal have done very well this season; they are very good from set-plays and a physical team. We need to be ready for that test."
On the fitness of Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon, he also stated: "They both feel OK. We will assess how they feel today. Sometimes 48 hours after the game you can feel different to 24 hours. It's not necessarily a straight line with how the body feels. They have both had niggling injuries so we’ll make a decision today."
On the Toon support, Howe added: "It has been important, for a while here. The environment again was second to none. It was a sell out, it was a really good feeling. I can't thank the supporters enough for that. There was no hangover from recent results, it was really good and that helped us massively."