Eddie Howe gave his opinions on his options in the central forward position for Newcastle United.
The Toon have been without £55 million man **Yoane Wissa**all campaign due to a knee injury he picked up on national duty for Congo. His recovery has aligned nicely with the expected timeline.
Anthony Gordon ideally plays on the left, but he has deputised well without the output to match his directness and endeavour in August while two young forwards have stepped up to their squad roles adequately.
“We continue to take it on a game by-game basis. We look at the fitness and form of all the players. Think we have a few options. Will Osula has done very well when he's come onto the pitch.
“He's nursing a slight ankle injury at the moment. So, he's not 100% training with us in every moment, but I'd say when he steps on the pitch, he will be fit.
“Anthony Gordon* has played up there, so we do have options. His all round performances have been good. He's been in a good place mentally and he's carried that form into the England team. Thought he played really well. Great to see him score.*
*“We would welcome Yoane to be fit and available and and share that load with Nick Woltemade, but Nick's carried that burden really well.*
“We've seen Yoane back on the grass, which is well, the first time on the grass, which is which is great to see, and I think his knees reacted pretty well to that work so far. So, it would now be a case of trying to step him up gradually. I get confused with dates as as where we were, but nothing changed.
“He's been managed by the physio team and the doctors really well so far. He's responded well to the treatment. I think the the specialist gave him a diagnosis of 6 to 8 weeks and he's on track for that.
So there's been we were obviously trying to work towards the six, but it looks like it's going to be more towards the eight as I said before, but there's been no no issues.”