Eddie Howe shares how close Anthony Gordon came to not playing for Newcastle after injury scare

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Anthony Gordon wasn’t expected to play for Newcastle United this weekend after leaving the last game on crutches, but Eddie Howe just likes to keep people guessing.

If you listened to Howe’s press conference before the game against Nottingham Forest you’d have every reason to believe that winger wouldn’t be available to play on Saturday.

However, in his interview with NUFCTV after the game, Howe shared that Gordon had trained for the first time all week on Friday and was able to make a late bid to be included in the team.

Gordon’s selection for Newcastle was almost last-minute

Gordon has arguably been Newcastle’s best player this season having really taken his game to another level, and it’s largely because he’s managed to remain injury-free in what has been a tough season for Newcastle.

This was the first time there was real concern about the £45m signing who looked like he was going to miss his first game through injury this season, but he somehow recovered very quickly.

Gordon had twisted his ankle against Luton which forced Howe to bring him off at half-time and was why he was on crutches after the game and in a protective boot during the week.

But the 22-year-old’s determination proved too strong once again as he managed to make a late push to be involved against Forest and played almost the entire 90 minutes before being subbed for Emil Krafth to see out the game.

On Gordon, Howe said: “Yeah, he did a real shift for the team today. I didn’t tell any lies pre-game he hadn’t trained until the day that I did my press conference when he did train and looked well.

“But still when you have a disjointed week it’s not easy at this level, but I though he did very well and played very well in the first half.”

Newcastle need to stay injury free from now on

It’s easier said than done after what Newcastle have suffered this season but it’s so important that they don’t pick up any more serious injuries in the second half of the season to have any hopes of Champions League football.

Slowly but surely players have started to come back into the team with Harvey Barnes and Jacob Murphy returning in the last few weeks, though Alexander Isak has been another unfortunate casualty.

Howe now really needs luck to be on his side and hope that he can keep this current team fit and available until the end of the season to give them the best chance of finishing high up the Premier League table.