Howe says Newcastle stars will be assessed following Champions League win over Athletic Club | OneFootball

Eddie Howe says Anthony Gordon will be assessed after being forced off against Athletic Club with what appeared to be a re-occurrence of his hip injury.

Newcastle won 2-0 at St James’ Park thanks to goals from Dan Burn and Joelinton.

But the only negative was Gordon being forced off shortly before-half time.

“I’ve not spoken to him and I’ve not really had a full run down from the medical team,” Howe said on Gordon’s injury.

“But it seems like a re-occurrence of his hip injury that’s been plaguing him in recent weeks.

“So we’ll assess that and see what damage is done.”

Meanwhile, striker William Osula was due to be on the bench against Athletic Club before withdrawing from the squad and Howe says they are monitoring his ankle problem.

“We’ve been in discussions at length with him about his ankle in the last few days as to whether he’s fit enough to actually perform to the level that we need and he’s comfortable with,” he said.

“After a discussion we felt it was best to withdraw him and try to get his ankle 100% right.”

It is approaching four years since Howe was named Newcastle manager and when it was put to him whether he imagined four years on that he would be on the same points as Real Madrid in the Champions League, Howe responded: “That does sound nice, that does sound good.

“I wouldn’t have predicted that four years later. I probably wouldn’t have predicted that I’d still be sat in this seat four years later as much as I would have hoped that I would be. With the volatility in the game there’s no guarantee to anything.

“I’m very, very proud to still be in this position and to be managing the team going forward but there is a flip side to that in that we’ve got work to do in the Premier League and we’re well aware that we’ve got a big task ahead of us.”