Joe Buck takes a look at the latest injury news from Manchester City and Newcastle United ahead of their Premier League meeting at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
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00:00So, Newcastle United travel to Manchester City this weekend aiming to get back to winning
00:05ways, certainly in the Premier League. Of course, they got beat by Fulham in their last
00:09league match, but they have won back-to-back games against Arsenal and Birmingham City
00:13in the Cup. So, they go to Etihad Stadium with every hope of getting three points. It's
00:18a ground they've never won at in the Premier League, only one win ever at the Etihad Stadium.
00:23That was obviously back in the Carabao Cup in Alan Pardew, Rolando Aron's days. So, Newcastle
00:28history isn't on their side this weekend, but they'll go to Manchester full of confidence
00:32that they can get a win. We know everyone knows about Man City's struggles. Of course,
00:36they got beat by Real Madrid in the week, just overcame Leighton Oren at the weekend,
00:41and then they got beat by Arsenal in the game before that. So, their struggles are well
00:45documented and Newcastle will fancy their chances of getting a win. And of course, they've
00:49been boosted by the fact Anthony Gordon will be back and available to play. On Saturday,
00:54he was spotted in training. Now, he missed the game against Birmingham City with a minor
00:57thigh injury. It wasn't a real surprise not to see him risk. He's played a lot of football
01:02over the last few weeks, months and years. So, it's not a surprise to see him, if he
01:07was feeling a little injured, to be taken out and not risked at that point. And Newcastle
01:13got the job done in his absence. But of course, with Gordon coming back, there is also a couple
01:18more injury worries that Howe has to deal with. First of all, Sven Bottman. He also
01:22missed the win against Birmingham after coming off against Arsenal with a knee injury. Now,
01:26that knee injury was in a different knee to the one he did as ACL. And it's not believed
01:31that he has got a big injury. And it's not one that will, touch wood, keep him out of
01:36any games going forward. But of course, with Man City now this weekend, will that game
01:40come too early? We'll obviously have to see. Eddie Howell will speak to the media on Friday
01:43with no doubt give the big information on Sven Bottman. But if he doesn't feature this
01:48weekend, you'd expect him to feature next weekend when Nottingham Forest come to St
01:53Julian's Park. And of course, the other injury is Dan Byrne. Dan Byrne went off in the second
01:57half with a groin injury. He started at St Andrews, him and Bruno were the only ones
02:02to start on Saturday from the team that started on Wednesday. So, it shows how much of a big
02:07player he is and how much Eddie Howell and his staff rely on someone like Dan Byrne that
02:12he was picked to play two games in a row. He did come off now again. Reports from the
02:16Mail suggest that he has avoided serious injury. And we hope that that is true because he has
02:20been a big part of Newcastle's season. He's probably been their most consistent player.
02:25If not, then certainly one of them. And him alongside Sven Bottman and Fabian Scheer,
02:32either if they're fighting for two places in the back four or if they're all playing together
02:36in the back five, as they did against Arsenal, we'll wait and see. But any absence for Dan
02:41Byrne will be heartfelt. But as I said, them three side, we obviously Jolent will miss the
02:46game. Harvey Barnes, Jamal Assal, are the only ones remaining on the treatment table for Newcastle.
02:51So, Eddie Howell's got a fairly fit squad. Of course, then sort of two issues with Bottman
02:55and Byrne will be ones that he'll hope to have back on Saturday. Pep Guardiola, meanwhile,
03:02obviously without Ballon d'Or winner Rodri, he's out with an ACL injury. He might return before
03:06the end of the season. It looked like when he did the injury that he might not come back until
03:11June. Sorry, until the end of the season. But videos and social media suggested he might be
03:15back. So, that'll be one. But certainly won't be back this weekend, of course. And Jack Reelish
03:19and Manuel Akanji and the other two, they suffered injuries against Real Madrid. Pep Guardiola,
03:23as I said after the game, he didn't know how bad they were. So, it'll be interesting to see
03:29if they're able to feature. Of course, Man City will want to get back in the winning ways and
03:34we'll hope that they can do that on Saturday. Newcastle, of course, will hope that that's not
03:36the case. But them two players, if they are back, they might not even start with all the lavish
03:42resources Man City have got. And obviously, they had a big spend in January as well to make up for
03:47some of their deficiencies and where they were getting injuries. So, it'll be interesting if
03:50they play. But Newcastle, as I said, will hope that they can end that long wait for a Premier
03:55League win at the Etihad Stadium. And to be honest, I don't think there's a better chance
03:58than this weekend. They've gone in the previous years and looked a bit awestruck, a little bit
04:02shell-shocked. And so, it'll give Man City a little bit too much respect. And of course,
04:06you've got to give Man City respect. They're one of the best teams this country's ever seen. But
04:09right now, they're certainly beatable. Newcastle will want to go and impose their style and
04:12hopefully they can do that on Saturday. And yeah, it'll be interesting to see what Etihad
04:16does with this first team, especially with the injuries to Dan Burnham and Sven Bolland.