Lewis Hall update - Howe shares the good & bad news after Arsenal absence

With less than three weeks until we kick off our Premier League campaign, just who we can expect to start on the opening weekend against Aston Villa is still up in the air.

Alexander Isak's future remains uncertain, Joelinton still needs to get back to first team-level fitness, and Howe may act cautiously with how he manages Sven Botman for the rest of our friendlies.

But one key player to ponder over is Lewis Hall. We've not seen the full back since February when he suffered a season-ending injury against Liverpool.

And now the manager has given us a crucial update over whether or not we can expect Hall to appear in our upcoming pre-season fixtures, after he was included in the squad for the tour of Asia but has yet to play any minutes.

Howe issues Hall update

In a new interview released by the club, Eddie Howe has said it's unlikely we will see Hall play much, if at all, for the Magpies during pre-season.

Keen to avoid rushing the 20-year-old back from injury, Howe looks to be waiting for Hall to get back to full fitness before he starts again at left back - but the positive news is he trained with the group on Saturday and is taking “positive”, albeit small, steps.

“Yeah I think he’s still some way away from game time,” Howe told NUFC TV.

"I think the first step for him is to train regularly with us, but he did that yesterday (Saturday)  for the first time, as I said, in the group."

"So, small steps him for him, but certainly positive ones."

So, some encouragement that he’s getting closer, but it’s a shame that he’ll seemingly miss much of, if not all, of pre-season, meaning we may not see him feature over the opening weeks of 2025/26.

Who will start in Hall's place?

As good as Tino Livramento has been deputising in his compatriot's place, there's no denying just how much we've missed having Hall as an option.

But with Livramento himself still needing time to properly rest and recover after he spent the early part of the summer with the England U-21s, Howe may have to get creative with his options for the upcoming games against the K-League XI, Spurs, Espanyol and Atletico Madrid.

Youngster Alex Murphy started against Arsenal, and an own goal blighted in an otherwise solid performance from the 21-year-old.

Matt Targett however was ran ragged by Arsenal teenager Max Dowman on Sunday, which likely won't have given Howe much confidence in starting the Englishman moving forward.