Rafa Benitez has provided an injury update ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Man City, confirming that Shelvey, Dummett and Diame will ALL miss the game after failing to fully recover from recent injuries.
The gaffer has insisted that both Diame and Shelvey were ‘very close’ but not ready in time to make this one, however there was little update on Dummett’s progress, aside from the fact he’ll also miss out.
Here’s what Rafa’s said on the injury front ahead of tomorrow’s game, with him also confirming that Joselu has ‘twisted his ankle’ so won’t make the squad:
“The midfielders are very well close but are not ready for this game. No Dummett either.
“Darlow is getting better, he will be fine later this week. Joselu has twisted his ankle & is not available.”
Diame and Dummett could be big misses considering we look set to spend about 80% of this game defending and without the ball.
Longstaff has replaced both Ki and Shelvey brilliantly in recent weeks, but Shelvey’s ability to spring counters out of nowhere could have been key in this one.
On the transfer front, Rafa’s message was hardly inspiring, with it being another presser where he refused to discuss potential signings:
Can we have The Hoss 😯 😯 put down 😆
Toontaff(Quote)