The Magpies take on Pep Guardiola's side for a fifth time this season and head into the cup tie in positive fashion following a dramatic 2-1 win against Manchester United on Wednesday night despite playing the duration of the second half with ten men after Jacob Ramsey's controversial red card.
Howe provided a positive update on Woltemade after the Germany international missed the midweek win against Man United due to illness but admitted Tino Livramento and Lewis Miley remain sidelined for this weekend's cup tie.
Here are some of the boss' main talking points from Friday morning's pre-match media briefing at the Newcastle United Media Centre...
On team-news:
"Nick [Woltemade] should be okay, had an illness and lost a bit of weight. He trained yesterday individually and felt okay so that's a positive. Lewis [Miley] will not make the next couple of games.
“Tino [Livramento] is getting there, let’s wait and see. He hasn’t trained with us yet but he has done a lot of work. There's no question on how his fitness is. He has been running for a long time.
"He has a lot of work behind him, but it is just that training time with us."
On facing Manchester City:
“The games against Manchester City have all been close. We've have had chances against them. I don't think we've been as clinical as we need to be to win those games and, of course defensively, we need to be watertight.
"They're always going to test you. They are a difficult team to pin down in every moment. It will be a proper FA Cup tie where it's one of those end-to-end games. That will suit us and we will need to get the crowd involved."
On William Osula, who scored a late winner in Wednesday's Premier League victory against Manchester United:
“Will is something that always works on his game. He's got a lot of areas to focus on and continue his development.
He's worked incredibly hard since he's joined us and Graeme Jones has done a lot of individual work with him. He has done really well since his injury because it was a frustrating one, a long time out and static where he couldn't do too much with his ankle.
"He is confident again in his ankle and physically getting better."
On home atmosphere:
"The crowd react to us. It is our duty to set the tone and I felt we did that against Manchester United, with a bright start, energetic and positive in our outlook trying to score and attack in the right way.
"The crowd then backed us to the very end and helped us get us over the line to win that game. We need a ferocious St. James’ Park but that's going to come from our body language and start to the game."
