EDDIE Howe hailed the honesty of Sandro Tonali after the midfielder "put the team first" ahead of Newcastle's game against Fulham.

But after admitting he wasn't 100% on Friday on the back of suffering with illness this week, Tonali gave Howe the green light when Newcastle's head coach asked him whether he felt able to come on in the second half on Saturday.

At that stage, Newcastle hadn't yet conceded the equaliser but Fulham were on top and the visitors deservedly drew level when Sasa Lukic cancelled out Jacob Murphy's first half opener.

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Tonali was immediately introduced alongside Harvey Barnes and Fabian Schar, with Anthony Elanga and Will Osula later brought on, and Howe's changes and Newcastle's squad depth changed the game, with Bruno Guimaraes scoring a last gasp winner.

Asked about Tonali after the Italian was forced to drop to the bench for the midweek Benfica game due to the illness, Howe said: "All options were open.

"I had a little chat with Sandro at the start of the second half and said 'how do you feel, do...