Newcastle United could have Sven Botman available for their Premier League clash with Manchester City on Saturday evening following an update from an upbeat Eddie Howe.
Botman missed Newcastle United’s wins over Aston Villa and Qarabag in the FA Cup and the Champions League respectively with a back injury, though is in line to make his return when Howe’s side head to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Will Newcastle United ever see the best of Sven Botman again or would you sell him?
Yoane Wissa will miss the game with a knock but could return in time for Tuesday’s return fixture with Qarabag at St James’ Park, with the Magpies already 6-1 up from the first leg.
Here’s a look at Newcastle United’s predicted XI for the Man City game in Saturday night’s Premier League clash.
Newcastle United predicted XI vs Man City
Howe isn’t blessed with options defensively right now.
As such, it would not be a surprise to see close to the same back four who played out in Azerbaijan on Wednesday evening.
Newcastle United predicted XI vs Man City (4-3-3): Pope; Trippier, Thiaw, Burn, Hall; Tonali, Joelinton, Ramsey; Murphy, Woltemade, Gordon
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Injured: Bruno Guimaraes (hamstring), Yoane Wissa (knock), Fabian Schar (ankle), Tino Livramento (thigh), Lewis Miley (muscle), Emil Krafth (knee)
Convince me otherwise: Eddie Howe gave me my greatest day as a Newcastle fan but he has taken us as far as he can
DISCLAIMER: It's not all his fault, chaos behind the scenes and PSR does not help 😡
He’ll always be a hero but everything comes to an end
Time and date: 8pm GMT on Saturday, 21 February, 2026
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
TV channel and live stream: TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports Ultimate
Referee: Tom Bramall, James Bell (VAR)
Sven Botman in action for Newcastle United in the Champions League against Athletic Club.
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Newcastle United confirmed team news vs Man City
Howe has confirmed that Lewis Miley isn’t quite ready to return, although he could be back in action relatively soon.
Of the midfielder, Howe said during his pre-match press conference: “Lewie Miley still has a little bit to go. Without going into too much medical stuff which is beyond me, it was a dead leg, but it disturbed a bit of the muscle. I don’t think he’s too far away, nothing more than a week or a couple of weeks maximum, but we’ve been told that we’ve got to be careful with it.”
Speaking about Botman, a confident-looking Howe said: “Better news on Sven, he could be in and around this game.”
The Newcastle United manager also refused to use the fact that his team had to travel to Baku only a few days ago as an excuse heading into the game.
“In some respects, the necessity to recover and be at your best again is a sobering thought when you play Man City and that in itself focuses the mind to not look for excuses,” he said.
“We have to turn up and be the best version of ourselves and give everything we can to win another game. The players know they have to be ready.”
Newcastle United injuries vs Man City
Bruno Guimaraes will likely miss around eight more games for Newcastle following the hamstring injury he suffered against Tottenham earlier this month.
“There’s no massive update,” said Howe of Guimaraes.
“He’s in Brazil and judging by a couple of pictures I’ve seen, he’s enjoying himself! That’s typical Bruno – seeing him watching the game did make me laugh because his passion and love for the team was shining through. We wish him well from afar.”
Tino Livramento, meanwhile, is making good progress on his return from a thigh injury, though will not feature here.
When asked about Livramento, the Toon boss added: “He’s making good progress but I don’t think we’re going to shave too much time off the early March target for him.”
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