Jason Tindall gives injury update on Anthony Gordon as England star recovers from 'nasty' bruise

Newcastle United assistant coach Jason Tindall was in the hot seat on Friday morning facing questions from the media as Eddie Howe was laid up in bed with illness.

It's not the first time that Mad Dog has taken the reins at Newcastle with Howe's right-hand man taking charge of Howe's first game as Newcastle boss due to COVID.

While Tindall expects Howe will be back at work on Sunday when Manchester United visit St James' Park, it has fallen to him to address the media this morning.

One big question, other than the status of Eddie Howe, is always what's the current situation with injuries, and this week, particularly, Anthony Gordon.

Anthony Gordon's injury has kept him out longer than expected

When the Newcastle winger left the England camp early there was a lot of concern for the rest of the season, but the first update since his return was that his injury wasn't that bad but was a 'nasty' bruise, so naturally we were all expecting him to be available for the game against Leicester City after completing his three-match suspension as the lads faced Brentford.

However, when the team news came out for Leicester, Gordon's name was nowhere to be seen and Eddie Howe later cast doubt on his availability for Sunday's game against Man United.

This morning, Jason Tindall gave us a glimmer of hope that Gordon will be available after confirming that he's been back in training this week.

Harvey Barnes should continue in the starting XI

Harvey Barnes has deputised admirably in Gordon's absence, so well in fact that it shouldn't be an automatic thing that he regains his place over Barnes when he is fit, but listening to Tindall, even if Gordon is ready to return to the squad, he may not be quite ready for 90 minutes.

"He's had a decent week with the physios. He was back out on grass for a session yesterday so we'll assess him today to see how he's responded to that then we'll have to make a late call on whether he's available for Sunday."

Seeing as Barnes is playing well, we'd prefer that the physios took their time with Gordon and didn't rush him back until he was 100% fit, but we'll see how it plays out on Sunday.