Ahead of our crunch clash away to Bundesliga giants Bayer Leverkusen, a little injury luck in our favour would certainly be welcomed as we...
Ahead of our crunch clash away to Bundesliga giants Bayer Leverkusen, a little injury luck in our favour would certainly be welcomed as we look to bounce back from our defeat in Marseille two weeks ago.
Unfortunately, if the latest comments from Leverkusen manager Kasper Hjulmand are any indicator, one of the their star players looks set to return, with five Mags expected to miss out again.
Here is the latest injury news from both camps as we build up to the 8pm kick-off…
Leverkusen ace looks to be available
Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday, Kasper Hjulmand confirmed that star defender Alex Grimaldo is set to be available for the game at the BayArena.
The Spaniard missed their 2-0 defeat at Augsburg over the weekend, casting doubt over his availability, b
ut it looks like their eight-goal, five-assist wing-back will be back for tonight’s game:
“He looked good today and yesterday, so we are confident about ‘Grima’.
“We are almost at full strength. Of course, there are players who are not in the squad, but the only injured player is (Exequiel) Palacios.”
The Spaniard scored and pulled off a big performance in their win at the Etihad against Manchester City in the last UCL game week, securing back-to-back victories in Europe for Leverkusen.
Grimaldo is the player for the big occasion, and whoever starts out of Jacob Murphy and Anthony Elanga has a tough test ahead of them in Germany, with plenty of defensive work needed to protect Tino Livramento.
Newcastle fitness update
Howe seemingly confirmed in his own pre-match press conference that he intends to field a “strong” side for tonight’s game.
However, it looks like it will be a similar story in terms of injuries and availability, with the quartet of Nick Pope, Will Osula, Kieran Trippier and Sven Botman are all expected to miss out, with Emil Krafth also managing a knee issue.
In better news, we should see Yoane Wissa once again in some capacity. The Congolese star made a brief 15 minute cameo at the weekend against Burnley and should feature from the bench once again as he looks to make his Champions League debut.
Elsewhere, Lewis Hall is OK and both Joelinton and Dan Burn are fit, but must watch their step, being one yellow card away from a one-game ban in Europe.
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