West Ham 3-1 Newcastle United: Joe Buck reaction
Newcastle United v Athletic Club: One influential member of Eddie Howe’s squad will not be allowed to play against Athletic Club on Wednesday night.
Newcastle United look to put Sunday’s hugely disappointing defeat to West Ham behind them when they host Athletic Club at St James’ Park on Wednesday night. The Magpies have taken six points from their opening three matches in the Champions League and know that a win tonight would put them on a points total that should be almost enough to secure a place in the knockout stages.
4-0 and 3-0 triumphs in their last two outings in this competition mean that Eddie Howe’s side should start Wednesday’s match full of confidence, but they will want to banish the demons of their trip to the London Stadium as quickly as possible. The Magpies left that game with just one fresh injury worry, that of Anthony Gordon who had picked up a hip issue, although that is not expected to keep him out of action on Wednesday.
Lewis Hall travelled to the capital at the weekend, but remained an unused substitute and hasn’t featured at all since their win in Brussels at the beginning of October. Tino Livramento and Yoane Wissa, though, will both miss out at St James’ Park with knee injuries.
Livramento hasn't featured since the end of September, whilst Wissa is still yet to make his debut for the club he signed for on deadline day. Both players could be back and fit for Newcastle United’s trip to Marseille at the end of this month.
Harrison Ashby, meanwhile, also won’t be in contention tonight.
UEFA rules block Jamaal Lascelles from featuring v Athletic Club
One other man who also won’t be able to play for Newcastle United on Wednesday night is club captain Jamaal Lascelles. Lascelles has featured twice in the Premier League for the Magpies this season, but won’t be allowed to play in the league phase of the Champions League.
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That’s because he wasn’t named in Howe’s ‘List A’ squad for the competition. Any player not named in this squad is ineligible to feature in the league phase, with Lascelles the unfortunate player to not be named by his head coach.
Ahead of the beginning of the league phase, Newcastle United had to submit a ‘List A’ squad for the that stage of the Champions League. Clubs can name 25 players in their ‘List A’ squad, including four spots for ‘locally trained players’.
Because the Magpies have no players that fulfill that criteria, they were only allowed to name a 21-man squad, meaning Lascelles, along with reserve goalkeepers John Ruddy and Mark Gillespie, were not included.
There is a loophole available to Lascelles, though, which could see him feature in future Champions League matches this season due to a new rule implemented by UEFA. To manage the workloads of players, clubs can now make one alteration to their ‘List A’ squad if they suffer a ‘long-term’ injury or an ‘illness’ which prevents a player currently named in the ‘List A’ squad from featuring in matches. The exact nature of what constitutes ‘illness’ or a ‘long-term’ injury has not been revealed by UEFA.
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