Newcastle United injury U-turn after midfielder ruled out v Nottingham Forest
Newcastle United injury team news v Nottingham Forest: The latest on Jacob Ramsey, Tino Livramento and Yoane Wissa.
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe has hinted at a potential early injury return for Jacob Ramsey after more than a month on the sidelines.
Ramsey suffered an ankle injury during Newcastle’s 0-0 draw with Leeds United at Elland Road back in August and hasn’t been seen since.
But the 24-year-old midfielder has been back on the grass in the build-up to Sunday’s Premier League clash against Nottingham Forest (2pm kick-off) at St James’ Park, giving hope of a potential return to the side.
Ramsey was initially ruled out by Howe until after the October international break, along with forward Yoane Wissa. But there was mixed injury news on the duo in Friday’s pre-match press conference.
Ramsey joined Newcastle from Aston Villa for £39million back in August and made his debut off the bench in the 2-1 defeat to Liverpool at St James’ Park before suffering an injury on his first start at Leeds.
Wissa was signed from Brentford for £55million shortly after Ramsey’s injury but is yet to feature for Newcastle having injured himself on international duty with DR Congo last month. While Ramsey could return to action this weekend, it may not be until November that we see Wissa make his debut for the club.
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Newcastle United team news
Newcastle head into the match on the back of a 4-0 Champions League away win at Union Saint-Gilloise on Wednesday night.
That match saw The Magpies without Wissa, Ramsey and Tino Livramento due to injury.
“I think we're okay,” Howe said. “Thinking off the top of my head yeah, I don't think there's any fresh injuries.
“[Livramento] went to see a specialist a couple of days ago because the scan initially looked better than we maybe initially thought it was and the specialist confirmed that yeah, it's an eight-week injury roughly.
“So yeah, a blow to lose him for those eight weeks because with our schedule at the moment that means a lot of games but what it could have been I think it's very good news.
“It's a ligament injury and that's why it will take the time that it will to recover. He's already had a couple of injections in the ligament to strengthen it up but whenever a player's stretched off and in the pain that he was in you fear you know maybe months so that's good news for Tino that it's only weeks [not months].”
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Eddie Howe drops positive Jacob Ramsey update
In delivering some bad news about Wissa’s recovery, Howe attempted to soften the blow by providing a positive update on Ramsey’s situation.
The Magpies boss said: “Yoane saw a specialist again yesterday for a check-up on his knee. We probably think now it’ll be eight weeks rather than six. No recurrence or problem, just slightly longer.
“Whereas Jacob Ramsey could be involved this weekend, so his is slightly quicker than expected.”
After the Forest match, Newcastle head into an international break where Howe will be hoping for no further injury blows. The nature of Wissa’s injury picked up on international duty entitles Newcastle to compensation from FIFA, where the forward’s wages will be covered while he recovers.