Team News April 15
Wednesday night sees the completion of Double Gameweek 32, when Newcastle United and Crystal Palace meet at St James’ Park.
Eddie Howe’s assistant Jason Tindall spoke on Tuesday morning, with Oliver Glasner giving team news in the afternoon.
In fact, the main update regards head coach Eddie Howe. He wasn’t on the touchline for Sunday’s 4-1 over Manchester United due to an illness which has now been confirmed as pneumonia.
We wish him a swift recovery.
While Howe won’t recover in time for the Crystal Palace and Aston Villa matches, around 320,000 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) bosses will be relieved to discover that Assistant Manager activations will still benefit from the Magpies’ wins, draws, goals and clean sheets.
Tindall and Graeme Jones will take charge of these two encounters, with Anthony Gordon pushing for a start following his cameo appearance. Joe Willock is available too, having completed the concussion protocol.
“Yeah, everybody’s come away from the game fine. It was good to get Anthony Gordon some minutes on the pitch, great to have him back with the qualities that he’s got.
“Joe Willock’s now back from the concussion protocols, so the squad’s in good shape. Thankfully we didn’t pick up any injuries from the weekend, so we go into the Crystal Palace game full of health up to this moment, obviously.” – Jason Tindall, via the Chronicle
In further good news, centre-back Sven Botman (knee) is expected back for the final few matches.
“I’ve been really pleased with Sven Botman’s recovery. He’s ahead of schedule, he’s now back out on the grass and hopefully he’ll be back out there or back in contention very soon for us.” – Jason Tindall
Lewis Hall (foot) and Jamaal Lascelles (knee) remain unavailable.
We already know that Jean-Philippe Mateta‘s half-time removal on Saturday was not injury-related; Glasner said the forward was simply taken off because “he lost too many duels, lost too many balls.”
Millions will hope that Mateta has earned enough goodwill from his previous 10 league games, where he scored nine times. Still, Eddie Nketiah‘s return from suspension could bring some nerves.
Also back from a ban is Marc Guehi. Both were sent off in Gameweek 32’s win over rivals Brighton and Hove Albion.
“The team is looking very good. Everyone is fit – just Cheick Doucoure and Chadi Riad are unavailable. Matt Turner is back, Romain Esse is back, and of course, Eddie [Nketiah] and Marc [Guehi] are back after their suspensions, so it’s good to have all the players available.” – Oliver Glasner
Ill duo Romain Esse and Matt Turner will make the matchday squad but Chadi Riad and Cheick Doucoure are out for the season with knee injuries.
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