Some brilliant news has arrived on the fitness front from the Mail’s Craig Hope today, with the North-East reporter confirming that Jonjo Shelvey’s knee injury is NOT serious, with him set to return to training this week and have an outside chance of featuring on Saturday.
This comes after claims yesterday that he was already ruled out of the Southampton game and sidelined for ‘at least’ two weeks, so this is a real boost and news we were not expecting to hear after fears he could be set for a length lay-off.
Understand Jonjo Shelvey will return to training this week & began some running today. He has avoided serious damage after injuring knee v B'mouth last month. Good news for NUFC, he makes a big difference when on his game.
— Craig Hope (@CraigHope_DM) March 5, 2018
The Mail state that he’s still ‘unlikely’ to feature against Southampton on Saturday, however this now means he won’t be missing for as long as first feared, with him fully expected to return for the home game against Huddersfield on March 31st.
Here’s a snippet from Craig Hope’s story, revealing that he did some light running yesterday ahead of his return to first team training this week:
‘We can reveal that the midfielder began some light running on Monday and has not yet been ruled out of Saturday’s visit of Southampton, although he is unlikely to feature.
‘There was a concern at one stage that the damage could be long term.
‘Shelvey, though, was always privately confident that the problem was not season-ending and, with Newcastle not playing for three weeks after this weekend, he should be back for the home match against Huddersfield on March 31.
‘He has also been nursing a groin problem which has required painkilling injections in recent weeks but that will not keep him out of his side’s relegation run-in.’
Good news. Shelvey has his faults, but he’s one of few players in our side with genuine quality. It would’ve been a big blow to see him out for any extended period of time, especially when he was just starting to form a formidable midfield partnership with Mo Diame.