Newcastle return to action later today against Chelsea, and it’s going to be a tough game for us. Chelsea are, of course, a brilliant team, and they’ve been in decent form of late.
Ahead of the game, Rafael Benitez has provided an injury update, and it’s fair to say that there’s good and bad news for the Magpies – with players ruled out and others set to return. Benitez’s full statement can be seen below.
RB on injury news: “Jonjo, Dummett and Darlow are not available. Fede (Fernández) and Clark are both available. Lejeune, who came in against Blackburn, is fine. So, we have some good news and some bad news.” #NUFC pic.twitter.com/NS70tKbHx5
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) January 11, 2019
The key takeaways here are, of course, that Jonjo Shelvey won’t be available. He’s, obviously, one of our best players, and so this is a big blow.
On the flip side, Florian Lejeune is to be available, which is great, as are Federico Fernandez and Ciaran Clark.
Clearly, though, it’s a bit of a mixed bag here, and given how weak our squad is looking more broadly, that’s still not the best news. It could be worse, of course, but Rafael Benitez is unlikely to be filled with confidence heading into the game.
Thoughts?