sven-botman
Newcastle United absolutely demoliushed Qatabag FK in their UEFA Champions League Play-off first leg today. Newcastle went to Azerbaijan and took the road leg by a score of 6-1, leaving them in a perfect place to cruise on through in the home leg next week, and advance on to the knockouts, where they are likely to face either Chelsea or Barcelona. Up next for Newcastle is a visit to Manchester City, for a Saturday night Premier League fixture. Newcastle could get as many three players back from injury for that one: Lewis Miley, Yoane Wissa and Sven Botman.
The trio are all in the “touch-and-go” or “late fitness test” category for this match.
Kickoff: Sat. Feb. 21, 8pm, Etihad Stadium, Manchester, UK
Team News: Man City Newcastle
More on the FA Cup Draw: go here
PL Form, Standings: Man City 2nd, 53 pts, LWDWW Newcastle 10th, 36 pts, DLLLW
Google Result Probability: Man City win 68% Draw 18% Newcastle 14%
Newcastle Team News
Newcastle emerged unscathed from any new potential injuries today, so we now have a better grasp of the entire injury/fitness situation.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe gave an update on Miley and his thigh injury yesterday: “He’s made good progress in the last few days. We’re happy with his progress. He’s had a no. of scans, it came from a knock, and it was a really bad dead leg which gave him some muscle disruption, so as soon as that’s healed, which we think it is now, we can push him on quite quickly.”
Meanwhile Wissa is dealing with an unspecified knock and Botman has a back problem, but it is thought to be less than serious. And then finally, we have an update on Emil Krafth, and it is devastating. The Swedish right back is done for the season. Said Howe:
“Emil has had an op on his knee, so in all likelihood, it looks like his season is over, which is a blow for us. He first suffered the problem on Int’ duty, and we hoped he could come back and be OK. It was clear in training [that] he wasn’t going to get to the level needed, and there needed to be a surgical intervention.”
The team across the way also has a key contributor at the fullback position, Josko Gvardiol, who is expected to miss the remainder of the season. Gvardiol suffered a broken leg against Chelsea last month.
This match certainly has a “you again?” feel to it. As we learned on Monday, these two sides were drawn against each other for the fifth round of the FA Cup.
They also clashed in the semifinals of the EFL Cup.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank.He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, RG.org and Ratings.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.
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