Eddie Howe insists Newcastle United will ‘try’ to make sure their scheduled Premier League match at Everton on Thursday goes ahead after admitting they will be ‘dangerously close’ to calling for it to be postponed.
Newcastle boss Howe had to make six changes to his starting line-up for his side’s 1-1 draw at home to Manchester United on Monday after losing a number of players to injury and Covid-19.
And the boyhood Everton fan’s selection woes worsened during the course of the game after star striking duo Callum Wilson and Allan Saint-Maximin both hobbled off.
Asked after the Monday Night Football clash with Manchester United how many players Newcastle will need to travel to Goodison Park, Howe told Sky Sports: “I believe it’s 13 plus a goalkeeper. We’re going to be dangerously close to that number."
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He was then asked to expand on that comment in his post-match press conference.
Howe, whose eight-man substitutes bench included two goalkeepers and two youth-team players, said: “We need to count the cost of tonight, see where we are, count the bodies up, and then see if we can get enough to play the game.”
The Magpies manager was then asked directly whether he felt the trip to Goodison Park will take place.
Howe said: “I don’t know. We will try and get the game on. We’ll see what the situation is with the injured players we have and the covid we have in the camp.
“It will then be a simple process of counting the players.”
On the injuries to Saint-Maximin, who gave Newcastle the lead against Manchester United, and Wilson, Howe said: “Callum’s injury doesn’t look good. I don’t know what it is, I don’t know what the extent of the injury is, but the way he went down, I feared the worst for him, in that moment.
“He felt he’d been kicked, which is why he got up and felt he could run it off, but obviously that wasn’t to be.
“Maxi’s… I don’t know how bad it is, but there’s certainly an injury there.”
Everton have had major injury and Covid problems of their own.
And that led the Blues to request that their Boxing Day encounter at Burnley be postponed, which was granted at the second time of asking by the Premier League.
