Newcastle United fans were shocked on Sunday when the team news dropped ahead of the clash with Chelsea at Samford Bridge and there was no sign of Anthony Gordon.
Shortly before kick-off it was revealed that Gordon had picked up a groin injury in training and would miss the game with a scan booked in for Monday.
With Newcastle facing Chelsea again tomorrow night in the Carabao Cup, Eddie Howe has spoken to the media this morning and first on the agenda was an update on Anthony Gordon's fitness.
Howe said (via Craig Hope) that Gordon had the scan on Monday and that it was relatively good news.
The scan revealed that the injury is not serious and Howe suggested that he is even in contention to face Chelsea tomorrow night.
"We have to make the right decision (Chelsea tomorrow). We have Arsenal coming up very quickly (Sat) & have to make sure we don't do any damage to it"
However, given how Howe immediately pointed towards the huge Premier League game against Arsenal on Saturday, we expect he'll let Gordon sit tomorrow's game out.
A cup run would be fantastic again this season, however, with our league form in desperate need of attention, i'd personally rather rest Gordon tomorrow night and hope for the best than force him to play and potentially exacerbate the situation at the risk of being knocked out of the Carabao Cup.
That might be a controversial take, but we still have the FA Cup and we desperately need to get back in the running in the league after dropping into the bottom half at the weekend.
Arsenal is a huge game for us, and we're probably facing them at the right time as they aren't at their best right now so we have a chance to get something out of that game. What are your thoughts? Let us know below.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
12 | 16 | 31 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
12 | 5 | 23 |
3 |
Chelsea
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
4 |
Arsenal
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
5 |
Brighton
|
12 | 5 | 22 |
6 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
12 | 14 | 19 |
7 |
Nottingham Forest
|
12 | 2 | 19 |
8 |
Aston Villa
|
12 | 0 | 19 |
9 |
Fulham
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
10 |
Newcastle United
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
11 |
Brentford
|
12 | 0 | 17 |
12 |
Manchester United
|
12 | 0 | 16 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
12 | -1 | 15 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
12 | -4 | 15 |
15 |
Everton
|
12 | -7 | 11 |
16 |
Leicester
|
12 | -8 | 10 |
17 |
Wolves
|
12 | -8 | 9 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
12 | -10 | 9 |
19 |
Crystal Palace
|
12 | -7 | 8 |
20 |
Southampton
|
12 | -15 | 4 |