Newcastle United star suffers injury setback ahead of busy Christmas period | OneFootball

There is more bad news on the injury front for Newcastle United as star full-back Tino Livramento is set to be absent until the New Year, missing the Magpies’ busy period of three fixtures in 10 days.

Manager Eddie Howe revealed that his side would take a cautious approach to the knee problem from which the England international is struggling.

“I don’t think it’s a serious injury, but the complication we have is that Tino [Livramento] has injured that knee before in a very similar area, so that always makes the potential recovery time a little bit longer. So I don’t think we will see him before 2026.”

Howe attributed the Magpies’ recent injury problems to fixture congestion.

“That’s the disappointing thing, we don’t have a huge number of injuries, we just have them focused on one particular area that has stretched us in the last few weeks. I think the fixture congestion this season has been like no other.”

The Tyneside giants are already missing the likes of Sven Botman, Dan Burn, Kieran Trippier and Nick Pope due to injury, whilst Lewis Hall is also a doubt for Saturday’s clash with Chelsea.

However, the Newcastle boss did note that the club would have to cope with playing so many fixtures on a regular basis in the long run.

“The cup run is a great thing, but, of course, that adds to it. We haven’t just had a week where we could regroup, but in some senses getting used to that as a football club is what we have to do in the long term and to be able to adapt and grow with that challenge.”

On the subject of cup competitions, the 48-year-old also commented on the Carabao Cup semi-final draw, which saw the Magpies pitted against Manchester City.

“It probably wasn’t the ideal draw for us, but I don’t think there was an ideal draw for us with the quality of teams left in,” Howe said.

“Our preference would have been to play at home second, just as we did last year. So that was probably the bigger thing than the opponent. So we got hit twice with that. It is what it is.”

Before the Carabao Cup semi-finals, Newcastle will first have to turn their attention to Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea, who they face on Saturday lunchtime. The Magpies could move into the top half of the Premier League table if they are able to secure a victory.