Eddie Howe has delivered the latest Newcastle United team news before their Premier League trip to leaders Liverpool
Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has confirmed that Sandro Tonali is fit for the trip to Premier League leaders Liverpool on Wednesday. And the Magpies could be further boosted by the return of two key players.
Tonali suffered a hamstring injury in training last week. While the midfielder recovered in time to be named in the Newcastle squad for Sunday’s thrilling 4-3 home win over fellow Champions League-chasers Nottingham Forest, he was restricted to a cameo off the bench.
Tonali emerged in the 70th minute as the Magpies fought to hold on to three big points following a second-half fightback from Forest.
But Howe has confirmed that the Italy international is now fully recovered and ready to take his place in the starting line-up against the Reds at Anfield.
The boyhood Evertonian said of Tonali: “He came through the game fine.”
Howe also offered surprising updates on defender Sven Botman and midfielder Joelinton.
Botman has been sidelined since injuring his knee in the Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg 2-0 home victory over Arsenal that sealed Newcastle’s place in next month’s Wembley showdown against holders Liverpool.
But the Netherlands international has a chance of returning on Wednesday. Howe said: “Sven’s improving and he’s improving quickly, so we’ll see whether he makes it. It’ll be close.”
Joelinton is in a similar position. The Brazil international has missed the Magpies’ last four matches with a knee injury.
But Howe said: “Again with Joe, it is similar to Sven, he is really improving and doing really well and pushing.
“He is another player who could be quite close. Joe is always important from a number of perspectives especially in defending set-pieces.
“He has those key aspects that we have missed when he’s not there. His physicality and strength there is an obvious presence missing in our midfield. Joey is a massive player for us.”
Newcastle have conceded 14 goals in their last five Premier League games and on Wednesday will come up against the on-fire Mohamed Salah, who leads both the top-flight’s scoring and assists charts.
And Howe said: “That’s going to be a challenge for us (stopping Salah). I think it’s not always down to any one individual within the team – it’ll be about the team supporting that area of the pitch.
“I think against Arsenal we were able to reflect on defending in twos, threes, fours. We had a mentality that we want to defend our goal to the highest level.
“I don’t think we’ve consistently had that in recent weeks but we’re gonna need that in this game.”
