'Probably not': Eddie Howe now says Alexander Isak is unlikely to be fit to face Bournemouth

Eddie Howe faced the press this morning ahead of tomorrow's visit of Bournemouth to St James' Park.

After the news that Callum Wilson will undergo surgery on his pectoral muscle which will keep him out of action for up to 12 weeks, the question was naturally asked how far away is Alexander Isak from fitness given that the pair are Newcastle's only two strikers.

The answer came as a rather unsurprising "not close enough".

It looks like it's Anthony Gordon up front again

Wilson and Isak have been taking it in turns to be injured all season with a few games of overlap either way. When the two of them have been out of commission it has fallen to winger, Anthony Gordon to fill in as striker.

Now, given Eddie Howe's response regarding Isak on Friday morning (via The Chronicle), it looks as though Gordon is set for another shift as striker.

“Probably not for the weekend but he is very, very close”

Eddie Howe has been known to tell little fibs on a Friday morn

One little strand of hope for fans to cling on to is just how much Eddie lies in these press conferences, especially when it comes to injuries. He likes to keep his cards close to his chest and the 'very, very' in that statement suggests that Isak might make the squad.

On the flip side, Howe's estimations have been known to go both ways. We thought we were getting Harvey Barnes back in December and Sven Botman weeks before he eventually returned.

He's making our job of predicting his lineup very difficult.