Eddie Howe has a few injury worries heading into tomorrow's non-televised 3pm Premier League clash between Newcastle United and Manchester City at the Etihad.
Joelinton remains on the sidelines after missing out on Arsenal and Birmingham, with Howe suggesting that the Brazilian is targeting a return in time for the Carabao Cup final next month.
Anthony Gordon missed the Birmingham game with a thigh issue, while Dan Burn came off during that game with a groin complaint.
Similarly, Sven Botman had to come off in the game against Arsenal with a knee problem, and he also missed the Birmingham game.
Speaking to the media this morning (via The Chronicle), Howe gave an update on Gordon, Burn and Botman which was mostly good news.
"Anthony should be fine, he had a thigh problem but has responded well to treatment and has training.
"There has been good news on the scan for Sven after his injury and it is not long-term. He will miss this weekend but hopefully won't miss games in the next few weeks.
"For Dan, initially, it did not look positive. He's had a scan, and it looks good; he is very close for this weekend."
We're aware that Howe doesn't have the best track record of predicting whether a player is ready to return, but we're hoping Dan Burn will be available for tomorrow's game so we can keep a familiar backline against Man City.
It's a delicate balance whether to put a player back into the mix or give them more time to recover, and it's not one that Newcastle have got right very often, so we'll have to see what happens.
We know £13 million man, Dan Burn will be itching to play, but with James Bunce around, he's not going to let players play if they aren't 100% ready.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
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29 | 42 | 70 |
2 |
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29 | 29 | 58 |
3 |
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29 | 14 | 54 |
4 |
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29 | 16 | 49 |
5 |
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29 | 15 | 48 |
6 |
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28 | 9 | 47 |
7 |
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29 | 6 | 47 |
8 |
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29 | 5 | 45 |
9 |
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29 | -4 | 45 |
10 |
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29 | 12 | 44 |
11 |
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29 | 5 | 41 |
12 |
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28 | 3 | 39 |
13 |
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29 | -3 | 37 |
14 |
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29 | 12 | 34 |
15 |
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29 | -4 | 34 |
16 |
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29 | -16 | 34 |
17 |
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29 | -18 | 26 |
18 |
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29 | -34 | 17 |
19 |
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29 | -40 | 17 |
20 |
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29 | -49 | 9 |