Newcastle will be without three key players for their Premier League trip to Manchester City, but two more should be in contention to feature after recent doubts.
Anthony Gordon should return from injury to face Manchester City this weekend for Newcastle – but the Magpies will be without Sven Botman after his injury vs Arsenal last week.
Botman was injured in the last moments of Newcastle’s Carabao Cup semi-final victory over Arsenal 10 days ago and missed their FA Cup clash last weekend. And Eddie Howe has confirmed that the Dutchman will not be ready to face City at the Etihad on Saturday to hand his preparations a huge blow.
Fellow centre-back Dan Burn was forced off at Birmingham in the cup a week ago and is a doubt to face City, facing a late fitness test to see if he can help stop Erling Haaland on Saturday. And winger Gordon – who scored against City in the reverse fixture in September – will feature at the Etihad after recovering from the issue that kept him out of their cup game.
“Anthony Gordon should be fine. He had a thigh problem but has responded well to treatment and has training,” said Howe in his pre-match press conference.
“There has been good news on the scan for Sven after his injury and it is not long-term, he will miss this weekend but hopefully won’t miss games in the next few weeks.
“For Dan, initially, it did not look positive. He’s had a scan, and it looks good; he is very close for this weekend.”
Howe also confirmed that Joelinton and Harvey Barnes remain out for Newcastle, with Barnes ‘close’ to being in contention. If Burn is also out, he could be forced to play a centre-back pairing of Emil Krafth and Fabian Schar.
“Manchester City are still a very, very good team, I think statistically at home they’ve still been very strong,” added Howe, discussing City’s drop in form this season.
“So for me they’re still the benchmark and we have to try and produce our best performance to try and get something for this match.