Newcastle United are back in Champions League action tonight, arriving in Belgium for a crucial clash with Union SG.
After losing our opening league phase game against Barcelona, match two of eight carries that extra bit of importance, with Newcastle one of nine teams that are yet to pick up a point in this year’s competition.
So, it’s a big game to kickstart our slow start to the season and get our European campaign up and running, with tricky games to come against PSG, Bayer Leverkusen, Marseille and Benfica.
The good news heading into tonight’s 5.45pm kick-off is we’ll have two key players back in the squad, and perhaps even the starting 11.
Fabian Schar has been passed fit to return after seeing out a 12-day absence due to concussion rules, giving Eddie Howe another selection headache at centre-back after the Swiss star missed recent games against Bournemouth, Bradford and Arsenal.
The other boost is that Lewis Hall is available for selection again, having sat out of Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Arsenal.
Hall started back to back games away to Bournemouth and the home win over Bradford in the cup last week, but he was left out of the squad against Arsenal to ‘manage his minutes.’
With Tino Livramento (knee) ruled out, Hall’s return could come at a good time, giving us a natural left-back option that could facilitate a return to a 4-3-3 formation.
As expected, Yoane Wissa (knee) and Jacob Ramsey (ankle) will miss out once again, with the pair pencilled in for our trip to Brighton on October 18th.
