Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan insisted he is looking forward to holding talks with owner Mike Ashley after confirming the pair will meet in London.

The 57-year-old will head for the capital amid speculation that the relationship between the two men has hit problems in the wake of Keegan's admission on Monday that his side is unlikely to break into the Barclays Premier League's top four during his time at the helm.

Keegan made a statement before the pre-match press conference, which had been brought forward 24 hours, to pre-empt a tide of questions on the subject.

He said: "The reason we have fetched the press conference a day early is that I am going to London to talk with Mike Ashley. That's a good thing and I will look forward to that.

"That's the only comment that really I am going to make on anything to do with that because this is a pre-match conference for the game against Everton and that's all I'm going to talk about from now on.

"Any other questions, they'll save for another day and I will try on that day, whenever it is, to answer them as honestly as I can."