Newcastle United appear to have received TWO bits of promising news ahead of our clash against Crystal Palace on Friday.
Firstly, Eagles star Wilfred Zaha has tested positive for COVID-19, and will therefore be isolating when we make the trip South later this week.
It also appears to be good news on Callum Wilson, with The Chronicle reporting that he’s ‘set to return’ at Selhurst Park.
Bruce didn’t risk his hamstring in last weekend’s loss to Chelsea, but it appears he will be fully recovered and ready to start on Friday.
Back to Zaha, he is Palace’s talisman and they are a shade of their regular selves when he is out of the side, with them losing 1-0 to a struggling Burnley team at Turf Moor last night.
Steve Bruce will be thanking his lucky stars as he will be desperate for a result on Friday following the last two dismal displays.
This isn’t the first time opposition injuries have threatened to benefit us this season, with Everton missing several star men in a recent 2-0 win, Danny Ings absent on our trip to St Mary’s and Chelsea being without key centre-back Thiago Silva last weekend. The question is, can we make the most of it this time around!?
We must remember that Palace do hold some threat on the attacking end without Zaha, with Eberechi Eze coming into his own in the Premier League, but this can only be seen a real boost ahead of Friday night’s trip to the capital.
Newcastle lost this fixture 1-0 last season, and will look to bounce back with a win on Friday night – especially with Zaha watching from home!
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What a sorry state of affairs we are in when; we rejoice because the opposition have their star man unavailable!!!!
John W.Pattison(Quote)
We’re as close to third position as we are the relegation zone, we’re 3 points up on where we were this time last season and 9 up on the season before, and you’re claiming the tenth game of the season is crucial and Bruce is “desperate” for a result??
Really?
Helen Clarey(Quote)