Sean Longstaff unlikely to make return to St James' Park pitch when Leeds United play Newcastle United on Wednesday
Newcastle United host Leeds United on Wednesday night in the Premier League in an 8:15 pm kick-off live on Sky Sports.
It's a quick turnaround for both teams after both played on Sunday. Newcastle will be feeling the better of the two, picking up a win against Crystal Palace, while Leeds drew 1-1 with Manchester United in what proved to be Ruben Amorim's last game in charge.
Leeds and Newcastle played out a drab 0-0 draw at Elland Road earlier in the season as the Magpies went on a stunning run of three goalless away draws.
Sean Longstaff was in the starting lineup for Leeds that day, having left Newcastle United in the summer, but he may not get to make the return home he was hoping for on Wednesday.
Sean Longstaff may have to make do with a brief cameo on Wednesday
The lifelong Newcastle fan returned to the bench for Leeds on Sunday and was probably dreaming about a return to playing at St James' Park, but Daniel Farke told Leeds Live today that he may miss out.
"Sean, if I am honest, my plan was to involve him for the first time in the FA Cup game because he was out for slightly more than six weeks
"Normally with a player like this after such an injury you like at least a full week of training. But Sean is such an important player for us, not just on the pitch but off the pitch with his personality in the dressing room. Particularly when other key players are unavailable, it becomes crucial.
"Currently, we're not conducting full team training, but he has participated and had a significant session today. We'll see who's available.
"Ethan Ampadu will return which is vital for us. Sean stands a chance to rejoin the squad.
"He definitely won't play the full 90 minutes, certainly not starting, but perhaps a few minutes. We'll see who's available."
We'd rather Longstaff didn't come back to haunt us
It sounds like Longy may get a brief cameo at best, but we're sure he'll be knocking on Farke's door after seeing what the gaffer has said.
We hope he stays on the bench, to be honest. Not because we don't want to see the lad playing, but because Longstaff is the type of player we'd expect to come back to haunt us.
We have visions of a 93rd-minute equaliser from Longstaff, walloped from about 30-yards. Let's just hope we're well out of sight by then, eh?
