The club have released a fitness update ahead of Saturday’s clash with Norwich City at St James’ Park – and it’s mixed news.
We know Jonjo Shelvey is out, with it being confirmed earlier this week that’ll he’ll miss at least 4 weeks with a hamstring injury, but the club reveal that Andy Carroll has been unable to train once again.
Bruce suggested he was close to returning last week, however his extended absence from training suggests he’s still struggling.
The injury-prone striker had reconstructive ankle surgery last year, yet it’s rib and hip injuries that have seen him play just 39 minutes of football since late December (2019).
It’s a growing concern and another reason why we should be signing a striker in the next 24 hours.
On the plus side, they confirm that new boys Nabil Bentaleb and Valentino Lazaro have been ‘in the thick of things’ in training and look set to make their Premier League debuts for the club against Norwich.
Elsehwere, Javier Manquillo is still out and yet to train, while Emil Krafth (6 weeks) and Paul Dummett (out for the season) are long-term absentees.
The club confirm Yoshinori Muto is back out on on the grass but training on his own – so he too looks set to miss our on Saturday.
Here’s the update – which was accompanied by today’s training photos – released by the club today:
New boys Nabil Bentaleb and Valentino Lazaro have both been in the thick of things, with both in line to make their first top flight appearances for the Magpies, but Andy Carroll and Jonjo Shelvey didn’t take part in Thursday’s session, while Emil Krafth and Javier Manquillo are injured and Paul Dummett now faces an extended spell on the sidelines.
Yoshinori Muto was back out on the training pitch, though, albeit working separately to the rest of the team.
With these update in mind, could this be the team to start on Saturday?:
(3-4-2-1): Dubravka – Fernandez, Lascelles, Clark – Lazaro, Bentaleb, Hayden, Ritchie – Almiron, Saint-Maximin – Joelinton.
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