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Eddie Howe has his ‘fingers crossed’ over Alexander Isak’s fitness for Newcastle United ahead of crucial matches against West Ham United and Liverpool.
Isak was forced off during Newcastle’s 2-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday having missed the previous match at Liverpool in the Premier League due to a groin issue. The striker was pictured training individually on Wednesday after fears he would be a doubt heading into Monday’s trip to West Ham (8pm kick-off).
The striker has scored 22 goals in all competitions for Newcastle this season and netted a brace in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium last season. Isak has also scored three goals in five appearances against Liverpool heading into next Sunday’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley (4:30pm kick-off).
Newcastle are facing a bit of a pre-Wembley crisis having already lost Anthony Gordon through suspension and Lewis Hall, Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles due to injury.
But the outlook is more positive regarding Isak, with Howe hopeful of starting the striker in each of the next two matches as things stand.
“He's fine,” Howe claimed. “Sunday he came off, he was just feeling a bit fatigued, I think, towards the end of the game, a bit tight in his body, so we withdrew him.
“I'm just trying to think back to this week, but I think he's trained every day - he's good.”
When asked whether Isak would start against West Ham, Howe added: “Fingers crossed, yeah. As I said, if he's fit, he'll play, because that's the best way to get him in the best physical condition for future games.
“Footballers are finely-tuned athletes, and when they're ready to play, they have to play, and we have to give them that opportunity. So, fingers crossed Alex will be fine.
“I understand the intense speculation and spotlight on him, but the best thing we can do is just relax and let him play his football.
“I think he's very, very motivated to score, I think that's one of the things that's so good about him. Same with Callum [Wilson], they've got that desire to score in every moment, every training session. Goal-scorers have that mentality, he's got it.
So, hopefully he's able to take his place on the pitch and do that.”
Sven Botman & Lewis Hall ruled out for Newcastle United
On the surgery blows to Botman and Hall, Howe added: “Sven, we've been trying to get him back to full fitness. He was very close [against Brighton] but one of his last actions in training he just felt something.
“This week, he's felt the same discomfort so it looks like now he'll need an operation to fix the issue.
“This has come from a knock in one of his first games back, he didn't feel it was a big issue but he needs a small operation to clear out some fluid and he'll be okay again.
“Yeah, really disappointed for Lewis. Devastated for him because he had so much to look forward to at this stage of the season with the cup final and possible international experience coming up. He was in great form as well so a big blow for him and for us.”
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