Tottenham travel to Newcastle in Carabao Cup fourth-round action on Wednesday night and Eddie Howe has now delivered an update on his Magpies squad ahead of the contest
Eddie Howe has delivered an update on his Newcastle squad ahead of Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup clash with Tottenham. The holders are bidding to retain the trophy following their historic triumph over Liverpool at Wembley back in March.
However, the Magpies do not have a fully fit squad available and full-backs Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento remain absent through injury.
Hall picked up a hamstring issue in the 4-0 Champions League win over Union Saint-Gilloise in Brussels and he remains sidelined. Meanwhile, Livramento is still out after picking up a knee ligament injury in the 2-1 defeat to Arsenal last month.
There is also doubt over the availability of centre-back Sven Botman, who suffered a nasty cut to his head in the dramatic 2-1 win over Fulham last weekend.
Howe has now revealed Botman had the gash stapled and the Dutchman is still yet to train ahead of facing Tottenham, explaining: “Sven has no concussion, it was a cut, a bad cut, which he had stapled together. He didn’t train yesterday, but we will see how he is today.
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“Lewis is the closest to coming back out of those injured, but this game will come too quickly for him. Tino is still on track, we are looking at the Manchester City game for him for when he can be available.”
Summer signing Yoane Wissa is yet to feature for Newcastle since his deadline day switch from Brentford after suffering a knee injury while on international duty with DR Congo in September.
Howe has also hinted he’ll be shuffling his pack on Wednesday but he intends to strike the right balance as his side look to make it three wins on the spin in all competitions.
He added: “It is important for this game to make the right decision; we want to progress. The competition means a lot to us, we are current holders, we don’t want to give that up easily. However, I have a squad, I need to try and get the balance right, there are players who need the football.”
Meanwhile, Tottenham remain without captain Cristian Romero, left-back Destiny Udogie and striker Dominic Solanke.
Thomas Frank issued an update on the trio on Monday and indicated they are now edging closer to a return.
He said, whilst also confirming Spurs had picked up no fresh injury concerns after the 3-0 win at Everton: “No, all good from the guys that played yesterday. Dom stepped forward, step by step. Cuti on the pitch today, not a timeframe. Destiny on the pitch as well today. Three steps forward.”
