Newcastle United have released photos of the squad in training on Wednesday afternoon, offering good and (potentially) bad news on the fitness of Joe Willock and Bruno Guimaraes.
After suffering a whack to his leg in Monday’s 2-0 defeat to West Ham that forced him off at half-time, it’s a relief to see Willock involved in the session, especially given his torrid injury record over the past few seasons.
However, there’s a slight worry around Bruno, who was forced off in the closing stages against the Hammers due to a glute issue. The Brazilian does not feature in any of the photos posted on the club’s official website on Wednesday afternoon.
His absence does not guarantee it’s anything serious, as Howe may be simply giving the 27-year-old a day off or a day’s extra rest if it’s a slight muscle issue, especially when the likes of Alexander Isak, Callum Wilson, Anthony Gordon and Fabian Schar don’t appear in any of the pictures. But we’ll have to hope this is the case, as it would be a real blow to lose our captain ahead of Saturday’s trip to Selhurst Park.
Should Bruno miss out, we could see the return of Sandro Tonali in that No.6 role; a position he excelled in during our 2-0 win over Chelsea in the Carabao Cup. A £55m Italian international is some replacement for our skipper, although it would be nice to see both feature in the middle of the park this weekend, with Howe under pressure to get the best out of Tonali after a stop-start season so far for the former AC Milan star.
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(Joe Willock in training on Wednesday, via Serena Taylor)