Eddie Howe concerns on Lewis Hall and Sven Botman | OneFootball

Sunday saw both Sven Botman and Lewis Hall missing from the Newcastle United matchday squad.

Eddie Howe’s side facing Brighton in the FA Cup.

Ahead of the match at his press conference last Friday, the Newcastle United Head Coach said that Sven Botman was ‘close’ to returning to the squad and he expected him to return to training on Friday and/or Saturday, with the hope that he would be included amongst his options against Brighton.

As for Lewis Hall, no mention whatsoever about him at Friday’s pre-match press conference.

As usual, the media clueless as to him potentially being unavailable against Brighton, as the Head Coach keeps his cards so close to his chest, any leaks at a minimum.

In the aftermath of defeat to Brighton, Eddie Howe giving updates on the two missing players.

Eddie Howe on Lewis Hall:

“It is an ankle problem that Lewis Hall picked up after the Liverpool game.

“He didn’t really recover well.

“He felt pain.

“So he had a scan and now he has been to see a specialist.

“We are awaiting further news.”

Eddie Howe on Sven Botman:

“Sven Botman was close [to being available for the Brighton match] but he did light training on Saturday and didn’t feel 100 percent confident in his body.

“So, we decided not to risk him.

“We still hope that he can play a part, either in our next game [West Ham away] or the game after [Carabao Cup Final against Liverpool.

“We are desperate to get him back fit because he is such a big player.

“But we couldn’t take the risk with him if he wasn’t 100 percent fit.”

The headlines following Sunday’s game were obviously dominated by the defeat and Anthony Gordon’s red card, which unless an appeal is successful, will see him miss the Carabao Cup Final as well as the Premier League matches either side of it.

However, I would say that Lewis Hall and Sven Botman are arguably just as big a story ahead of Wembley.

Lewis Hall arguably Newcastle United’s player of the year so far, maybe only Alexander Isak ahead of him.

Whilst we all know just how class Sven Botman is, the recent run of matches and especially the two against Arsenal that got Newcastle to the final, a massive reminder of his quality.