Eddie Howe has provided an update on Bruno Guimaraes' injury ahead of Newcastle United v Liverpool.placeholder image
Eddie Howe has provided an update on Bruno Guimaraes' injury ahead of Newcastle United v Liverpool. | Getty Images
Newcastle United injury news: Eddie Howe has provided a major update on Bruno Guimaraes’ fitness ahead of their clash with Liverpool in the Premier League.
Newcastle United head to Anfield on Saturday night (8pm kick-off) aiming for just their second ever Premier League win away against Liverpool. Fresh off the back of a draw against PSG in midweek, Howe and his players will believe that they can upset the odds and formbook and secure a win in Merseyside.
However, they have a number of fitness concerns to deal with on Saturday and know that they will be without Fabian Schar and Tino Livramento. Schar suffered an ankle injury against Leeds United last month whilst Livramento has been ruled-out of action with a hamstring injury for the foreseeable future.
Fortunately for Howe, he was able to welcome back Dan Burn to his starting team in midweek. Burn had been absent since suffering a fractured rib and a punctured lung in the Wear-Tyne derby back in December and after being an unused substitute against Aston Villa at the weekend, put in a superb performance in the French capital as the Magpies sealed a deserved point.
Eddie Howe provides Bruno Guimaraes injury update v Liverpool
As Newcastle toiled in Paris for a point, their captain was forced to watch on from the sidelines. Guimaraes travelled to the French capital after missing their defeat to Villa entirely a few days prior, but was not risked by his head coach.
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Newcastle United have not won a Premier League game in which Guimaraes hasn’t started since he made his full debut for the club four years ago. A trip to Anfield is always difficult and will be even trickier if they don’t have the Brazilian in the starting XI.
Asked for an update on Guimaraes’ fitness, Howe responded: “Slightly unknown at the moment. I’d say he did really well to be with us in Paris - I think that is more down to him being desperate to be there and support the players. We did very, very light training and he participated in that, but it was next to nothing to be honest.
“He trained with us yesterday [Thursday] but that was more of a [fitness] test. We’ll see how he is today. This will be the day where we really decide.”
In the reverse fixture at St James’ Park in August, Liverpool triumphed 3-2 because of a late Rio Ngumoha strike. The Magpies, on that day, were reduced to ten men in the first-half as Anthony Gordon was shown a red card for a late foul on Virgil Van Dijk.
Having then taken a two-goal lead it looked like Liverpool would run away with the victory, but a resilient Newcastle United fought back, led by their captain. It was Guimaraes’ goal that sparked their comeback before Will Osula netted his first of the season to restore parity.
However, Ngumoha’s strike broke the hearts of the hosts as Liverpool left with three points in the bag. Just a few days later, the Reds would go on to swoop for Alexander Isak, paying a British record fee for the Swedish international.
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