Sunday was not a good day for Newcastle United.
Eddie Howe’s side somehow managed to throw the game away against ten man Liverpool to leave St James’ Park with nothing despite leading for large parts.
It was another bitterly disappointing day against the Reds and one compounded by an injury to Sven Botman.
The Dutchman made the mistake that allowed Darwin Nunez to score the first of his brace and was duly forced off during the dying embers before the Liverpool man scored the winner.
Monday, however, has brought some good news for Newcastle.
Craig Hope provides positive Sven Botman update
Indeed, the Daily Mail’s Craig Hope has provided a positive update.
Taking to Twitter on Monday, Hope wrote: “Understand early indications are that Sven Botman has avoided serious damage to his ankle after injury suffered on Sunday. More news awaited ahead of weekend but I’m told it’s not as bad as perhaps first feared.”
Excellent news for Newcastle
Defensively, Newcastle aren’t particularly deep in central areas.
Dan Burn is perhaps an option to fill in there with either Lewis Hall or Matt Targett coming in at left-back but that would hardly be ideal given just how well Botman and Fabian Schar combined last season.
Were Botman to miss the trip to Brighton – another strong team despite their loss to West Ham – on Saturday, Newcastle would be heading to the south coast a much weaker side than the one who kicked off on Sunday.
Still, having reportedly avoided serious injury, at least the club are unlikely to need to source a long-term replacement with so little time left in the window.
Newcastle need Botman at his best if they have any hope of repeating last season’s exploits on the defensive front. Hopefully it will not be too long until he’s available again.
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