Newcastle’s new ‘unsung hero’ in contention to start at Chelsea after huge praise from Howe

There’s been so many success stories under Eddie Howe. Joelinton, Miguel Almiron, Fabian Schar, Sean Longstaff and Jamaal Lascelles often come to mind for their brilliant turnarounds, but Emil Krafth deserves a big mention.

He missed practically all of last season after a devastating ACL injury, but he did superbly over the second half of the 2021/22 campaign to fill in for the injured Kieran Trippier and has been outstanding whenever he’s featured this term.

In his first start for 18 months, he didn’t put a foot wrong at Old Trafford while playing at centre-back, helping us reach the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup in a 3-0 win over Man Utd. He played 76 minutes of Saturday’s 3-0 win over Fulham at right-back and made his presence felt at both ends, earning huge praise from Eddie Howe ahead of tonight’s trip to Chelsea.

Howe has hailed his remarkable recovery from such a serious knee injury, believing he’s come back in brilliant physical shape and has “never let me down.” This was evident over the weekend, as he showed real strength to barge a Fulham player off the ball to stop a dangerous counter, also keeping pace with the speedy Antonee Robinson in another impressive piece of play.

With that performance in mind, along with his rock solid display in the last round of the cup, he’ll surely be in contention to start at Stamford Bridge if Howe is looking to bring in a few fresh legs.

Here’s what the boss had to say about the versatile defender ahead of the match when asked if Krafth is our latest unsung hero:

“Emil is someone who has never let me down. He’s come back from a long injury and it was a very difficult injury.

“It was the type of injury where he was in isolation a lot. He was working with the medical team but he is the type that does his work in such an unfussy way. He’s very diligent, he’s come back to fitness. He’s looked really good physically.

“It’s been a really good moment for him to come back into the team. A sending off and early injury, he gave a great performance. Athletically he’s very good. His speed is still there and that is his key asset.

“After a long injury that is always a question mark. His power and speed are evident and I was delighted with his performance, he was outstanding.”