Newcastle United face Manchester United on Sunday but the fixture may come too soon for Anthony Gordon as he recovers from injury according to Eddie Howe.
Newcastle‘s £45million January signing hasn’t featured for the Magpies since the defeat to Manchester City due to an ankle injury, but he’s made a rapid recovery and is in contention to feature on Sunday against Manchester United.
Eddie Howe did seem cautious about risking Gordon on Sunday in his media briefing this morning (via The Chronicle), saying: “I don’t know if he’ll be available on Sunday. He took part in a very small part of training on Wednesday so we’ll see how he’s responded to that today.”
Eddie Howe often likes to mask the true extent of injures to the press
We know how much Howe likes to toy with the media with his responses often making injuries sound worse or better than they are in order to keep opposition managers guessing as to what his starting eleven will be.
With Miguel Almiron out for up to six weeks, Newcastle could do with Anthony Gordon being fit, but at the same time it’s not worth risking exacerbating his injury if he’s not 100%.
Howe has plenty of options to cover the flanks with Joelinton returning from suspension, Allan Saint-Maximin, Alexander Isak and Jacob Murphy all capable of playing wide, as well as Matt Ritchie at a push.
Gordon should be rested until he’s 100% fit
I’d personally rather we wait until Anthony Gordon is fully fit before throwing him into a game. We’ve got 12 games to go in the Premier League and it’s getting pretty tight in and around those Champions League spots, so the more players we can keep fit the better.
Callum Wilson claimed this week on the Footballer’s Football Podcast that he’s feeling rested and ready to go, so that gives Howe another option. Maybe using Isak as a wide forward alongside Wilson.
Things aren’t that desperate right now that we need to risk one of our most expensive signings.
Receive a digest of our best Newcastle content each week direct to your mailbox
