In the next 24 hours, we’ll hear from Eddie Howe and Bayer Leverkusen boss Kasper Hjulmand ahead of our Champions League clash in Germany on Wednesday night.
Newcastle are likely to be without Sven Botman, Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier, Emil Krafth and Will Osula once again, but should have Sandro Tonali and Lewis Hall ready to start after the pair were protected on Saturday.
For Leverkusen, they appear to be sweating on the fitness of their vice captain, main creator and second top scorer in Alejandro Grimaldo.
The flying left wing-back played a starring role in their last Champions League win – a 2-0 victory away at Man City – and has a stunning 13 goal contributions to his name this season, but it’s not clear if he’ll be fit for Wednesday.
Grimaldo missed Leverkusen’s 2-0 defeat at 14th place Augsburg on Saturday and manager Hjulmand was unable to say if he’ll be fit for their meeting with Newcastle after the game, saying:
“He is not injured. We pushed Grimaldo very hard so that he could play, but he was carrying a knock.
“We tried in training, but it wasn’t possible for him to play.”
Leverkusen are still a dangerous side, sitting fourth in the Bundesliga and winning their last two (to nil) in the Champions League at Man City and Benfica, but it would be a huge boost if arguably their most influential player misses out.
