FA rules give green light for Newcastle United to play 25-year-old v Crystal Palace

Newcastle have won their last five matches in all competitions and head into the match against Palace at St James’ Park knowing a win would take them third and five points inside the Champions League places with six games left to play.

The Magpies have named the same starting line-up for each of their last five wins with the form of Harvey Barnes, Tino Livramento and Kieran Trippier in the absence of Anthony Gordon and Lewis Hall being a real strength.

Although there is a quick turnaround after Sunday’s 4-1 win over Manchester United, Newcastle’s starting line-up is likely to remain the same once again. Although with Gordon and now Willock back available, there is added competition.

Joe Willock injury update

Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s match, Newcastle assistant manager Jason Tindall said: “Yeah he's now exited the concussion protocols so he's available now to be involved in the squad for tomorrow night.

“Everybody's come away from the [Manchester United] game fine. It was good to get Anthony Gordon some minutes on the pitch, great to have him back with the qualities that he's got, Joe Willock's now back from the concussion protocols so the squad's in good shape as always thankfully, we didn't pick up any injuries from the weekend so we go into the Crystal Palace game full of health up to this moment obviously.”

Premier League concussion protocols

Willock picked up his concussion in the closing stages of Newcastle’s 2-1 win over Brentford and had to miss the Leicester City and Manchester United matches as a result.

FA rules state that the earliest return-to-play date for a player must occur 12 days after the initial head injury or seven days if exceptional criteria are met. Now that 12 day period has passed, Willock is now back available and will likely return on the bench.

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Jason Tindall previews Crystal Palace game

Tindall will remain in temporary charge of Newcastle in the absence of head coach Eddie Howe. Howe has been ruled out of the Palace game and following match against Aston Villa though there is no clear timescale for his return at this stage.

Looking ahead to the Palace match, Tindall said: “Their form of recent has been outstanding, in the top three or four I think it is in the Premier League in some of their metrics, so we know it's going to be a really, really tough game for us.

“They're a very dangerous side, as I said earlier they've only lost two games in 15, I think it is away from home and obviously one of them was the weekend.

“So we know it's going to be a tough task and we know we have to be at our best to make sure that we get something from the game and know what a group of players we've got, they'll understand that, they'll know that and hopefully we can go out and deliver a performance good enough to win the game.”

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