Marco Silva was impressed with the immediate impact Eddie Howe had in Newcastle following his appointment in November.
The club were winless in the Premier League when Howe took over, but he went on to lead them to an 11th place finish.
This season they have not won since the opening day, though the flipside is that they have only tasted defeat on one occasion, too.
“Firstly, Eddie made a huge, huge impact last season on Newcastle, the way they finished, when they showed the quality,” Silva said. “They are really well managed with Eddie, I think he's doing a very, very good job.
“But we are at home. Against all the teams in this competition we are full of motivation to match them. At home we are really strong.
“It will be tough for us but will it be tough for them, I’m 100 per cent sure, as well. I think the Cottage can play a key role in tomorrow's match again and, of course, we are confident.
“There are some things that we have to improve, definitely. But Eddie and Newcastle know that it will be tough for them as well.
“Of course they just won one game, but they only lost one as well. They have ensured that they are really tough to beat.
“It’s a team that is really dangerous when it's an open game, with some really nice players in the attack line.
“One-v-one they are really strong as well and they have three midfielders with capacity on the ball.
“They are a physical team, they are really strong in this respect as well, and I think it will be a good game and both teams will want to win.”
Following their recent takeover, Newcastle have spent heavily in the last two transfer windows, notably bringing Brazil international midfielder Bruno Guimaraes to Tyneside, before smashing their transfer record with the £63m arrival of forward Alexander Isak.
“The last January market made a big impact on their squad,” Silva stated. “Top, top quality they signed.
“I think Bruno Guimaraes is probably one of the best examples, I think he is a top, top, top quality player.
“And they did it again last window, they have this capacity, they have this power.
“They signed a striker. We signed 11 players and didn't get close to the price they paid for that striker. That shows the power they have, the quality there.”
