Sven Botman will be assessed for Newcastle United’s next cup mission at Birmingham City on Saturday night.
The truth is Botman may well have been rotated in any case for the clash at St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park in the FA Cup fourth round with Emil Krafth in line for minutes against the League One side. However, his knee was being looked at this morning at the club’s Benton base.
After the magnificent Carabao Cup glory night against Arsenal, which booked a place at Wembley, Howe said: “I don’t quite know what the problem was with Sven, why he had to be withdrawn. I think it was a knee issue and we hope he’s okay. He’s such an important player.
“He’s still coming back to his best feeling, rhythm after a long-term injury, but we certainly respect his qualities. We felt today it was just a must we got him in the team with his physicality, with his strength, his ball-playing ability.
“I was very. very pleased with his performance, but of course I’d need to check his injury and check he’s okay.”
Botman scored 10/10 in the Chronicle Live match ratings and put in his best performance yet since returning from a long-term knee problem. Howe stated that display against the Gunners was right up there with his best performances ever as boss.
He said: “Yes, it’s definitely up there. It was always going to be a difficult game because there was such a gap between the ties – I think that’s unique in itself. We had a long time to sit on our 2-0 lead and think about how we were going to approach the second leg.
“In the end, all the thinking is redundant, really. We were always going to play the same way and try to execute how we wanted to play the game.”
View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/sven-botman-arsenal-injury-revealed-30947464
