Eddie Howe was forced into one change for Newcastle United's win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday and with another massive Premier League game to come this week, things are looking better for the Magpies gaffer.
Sandro Tonali dropped to the bench on Sunday due to a mild hamstring injury. Lewis Miley was brought in in his stead to play alongside Bruno Guimaraes and Joe Willock before Tonali replaced the latter in the second half.
Joelinton and Sven Botman both missed out too as they continue to recover from their respective knocks.
However, it may not be long before Newcastle are at full strength, which will be a huge boost going into the final stretch of the season.
Newcastle United take on Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday night. Kick-off is at 8:15pm and it's live on TNT Sport. Eddie Howe has been speaking to the media (via The Chronicle) ahead of this game and has given positive updates about the three absentees.
[On Tonali]: He came through the game fine.
[On Botman]: Sven's improving and he's improving quickly, so we'll see whether he makes it. It'll be close.
[On Joelinton]: Again with Joe, it is similar to Sven he is really improving and doing really well and pushing. He is another player who could be quite close. Joe is always important from a number of perspectives especially in defending set-pieces. He has those key aspects that we have missed when he's not there, his physicality and strength there is an obvious presence missing in our midfield, Joey is a massive player for us.
It sounds as though Sandro Tonali could be fit to start against Liverpool which is huge for confidence heading into such a big game.
It will likely come too soon for both Sven Botman and Joelinton, but it does sound like there's an outside chance that at least one of them could make the bench tomorrow night which may just be enough of a psychological boost more than anything else.
We know our record against Liverpool, but we're going to have to beat them at some point, the curse can't go on forever.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
![]() |
29 | 42 | 70 |
2 |
![]() |
28 | 28 | 55 |
3 |
![]() |
28 | 12 | 51 |
4 |
![]() |
28 | 17 | 49 |
5 |
![]() |
28 | 15 | 47 |
6 |
![]() |
28 | 9 | 47 |
7 |
![]() |
28 | 6 | 46 |
8 |
![]() |
29 | -4 | 45 |
9 |
![]() |
28 | 13 | 44 |
10 |
![]() |
28 | 3 | 42 |
11 |
![]() |
28 | 3 | 39 |
12 |
![]() |
28 | 4 | 38 |
13 |
![]() |
28 | 14 | 34 |
14 |
![]() |
28 | -6 | 34 |
15 |
![]() |
28 | -4 | 33 |
16 |
![]() |
28 | -16 | 33 |
17 |
![]() |
28 | -19 | 23 |
18 |
![]() |
28 | -32 | 17 |
19 |
![]() |
28 | -37 | 17 |
20 |
![]() |
28 | -48 | 9 |