Newcastle United injury blow ahead of Leeds United as Eddie Howe confirms late call for pair
Leeds United's midweek hosts are sweating on the fitness of two attackers.
Newcastle United winger Jacob Murphy is a doubt for Wednesday’s meeting with Leeds United due to a hamstring issue.
Murphy looked in some discomfort during the second-half of Newcastle’s 2-0 win at home to Crystal Palace on Sunday. The winger could be seen feeling his hamstring shortly before being replaced by Joe Willock on 88 minutes.
Newcastle have been without the 30-year-old’s main competitor at right-wing, £55million summer signing Anthony Elanga, for some weeks but after recently returning to training he faces a late call ahead of Wednesday. And speaking after Sunday's win, Howe confirmed it will be the same for Murphy.
“Jacob was just feeling a bit of awareness in his hamstring, so we need to check him [before Leeds],” Howe told the Shields Gazette. “Yoane [Wissa], I think he's fine. I thought he played well today, I was pleased with his contribution.”
Newcastle risk being a little short in attack against Leeds, should Murphy and Elanga miss out due to the quick turnaround, but the picture is more positive at the back. The Magpies have been close to crisis in defence but welcomed back a trio of first-team players on Sunday.
Right-back Tino Livramento got 27 minutes off the bench, having missed Newcastle’s last three games, while experienced pair Sven Botman and Kieran Trippier both returned to the bench. Longer-term absentees Jamaal Lascelles, Dan Burn, William Osula and Emil Krafth remain sidelined.
Triple Newcastle injury boost ahead of Leeds United clash
“I think it was really important we had those players back for this month,” Howe added. “Not that you can ever sort of predict that, but we sort of got an eye on the month and you can see how busy it is and not just the games, but the size of the games.
“You want your full artillery ready. And I think you can see the importance of it today when we were able to bring on Tino in a moment where I felt we needed his qualities on the pitch.
“And if we needed to turn to Sven and Kieran's experience, we could do that. Now they've had one or two days training, very minimal time back on the training pitch, so we've got to be careful with them and manage them correctly.
“But we've really, really missed them and I can't underestimate also the leadership skills that they possess, how much we've missed those qualities as well. So I think we try and manage that well, but also with that becomes less of an awareness of it.”
Leeds will hope to have Jayden Bogle back for Wednesday’s trip to St James’ Park after he missed out against Manchester United with a minor calf issue. Former Newcastle midfielder Sean Longstaff was back on the bench at the weekend and could feature in midweek, having been out since November with a calf injury of his own.