Eddie Howe spoke to the media on Friday morning ahead of Newcastle United’s meeting with Crystal Palace on Sunday. Kick-off at Selhurst Park is at 2pm, live on Sky Sports.
Football is back! Football that people actually care about, that is. It has been a long, long three weeks without it, and we’re ready for the manic highs and lows that only Newcastle United can deliver.
Eddie Howe managed to get the rollercoaster going early this week with his pre-match press conference on Friday morning.
The Toon gaffer delivered his usual injury update ahead of the upcoming game, and it was very much a case of good news-bad news.
Bruno Guimaraes and Fabian Schar are both out of Sunday’s game. Bruno’s mumps set his return back a week or two, while Schar is going to be out of action for another month after picking up an infection in his foot.
On the flip side, though, Lewis Miley is back and will be involved on Sunday, but perhaps the biggest shock is that Eddie Howe confirmed Sven Botman will return to action on Sunday after having facial surgery.
The Dutch defender had his cheek caved in during the game against Sunderland and was set for another hefty spell on the sidelines. It was originally expected that he would be out until the closing stages of the season. However, Eddie Howe has confirmed that Botman will be back, albeit in disguise, wearing a face mask as reported in The Shields Gazette.
Though, probably not this mask, unfortunately
Given the news that Fabian Schar is out for another month, having Sven Botman available is a massive boost for Newcastle, and is obviously huge news for the man himself, who has had a torrid time of it with injuries since his arrival at St James’ Park.
Eddie Howe should have a relatively fresh squad to pick from this weekend, even those who were involved in internationals have had time to recover, so we could see Dan Burn selected ahead of Botman as a precaution, but just knowing that the Rolls-Royce is in the garage ticking over is a huge boost.
It does make us wonder what happens now with Fabian Schar, though. If he were due back this weekend, he’d have had potentially seven games to play himself into a contract extension, but with this latest setback, are his chances fading?