Lewis Hall's Newcastle United return date after huge Tino Livramento injury blow
Newcastle United were without Lewis Hall for their 2-1 defeat to Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.
Newcastle United hope to have Lewis Hall back for Wednesday’s Champions League clash away to Royale Union Saint-Gilloise as Tino Livramento looks set to miss out.
Hall started two games in four days against AFC Bournemouth and Bradford City but was left out of the matchday squad for yesterday’s 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at St James’ Park.
The 21-year-old played a full 90 minutes at Bournemouth on what was his first start since sustaining his foot injury in February. Hall then played around an hour versus Bradford on Wednesday.
Lewis Hall left out of Newcastle United squad v Arsenal
Eddie Howe made six changes to his starting XI for the visit of Arsenal, with Hall the only senior player to drop out of the matchday squad entirely.
Dan Burn started at left-back in Hall’s absence with Tino Livramento at right-back before the latter moved back over to the left when Howe switched from a back four to a back five midway through the second half.
It meant United had no recognised left-back on the bench when Livramento was stretchered off in the 77th minute. That saw Burn go out to left-wing back as Arsenal scored twice in the remaining quarter of an hour to clinch a late victory.
Newcastle United issue official Tino Livramento update
Howe confirmed after the game that Livramento had sustained a knee injury but was unable to offer any indication of the severity.
But even if the injury is better than first feared, the quick turnaround cast huge doubt over Livramento’s involvement against Union SG.
“I've got no update to give you other than I know what you know,” Howe said. “Seeing him go off in that manner was really distressing, I think, and he's been such a big player for us in so many different ways, you know, his versatility, his attitude, his quality.
“If we're going to miss that for any length of time, that's going to be a huge blow.”
Lewis Hall set to return for Newcastle United v Union SG
Hall is in line for an immediate return to the starting XI in Belgium having only missed the Arsenal match due to fatigue,
“Yeah, we hope so,” Howe told NewcastleWorld when asked if Hall would be back against Union SG. “Lewis was suffering a little bit of fatigue in his body today. So yeah, we hope he'll be available.”
Eddie Howe looks ahead to Newcastle United’s Champions League clash v Union SG
Newcastle revert their attention back to the Champions League, just under two weeks after losing the opening league phase tie to Barcelona at St James’ Park.
“I think after today and the timing of the result, the manner of the result, you want another game quickly to put that to bed and change the feeling and change the energy,” Howe said after the Arsenal loss. “So I'm pleased we're playing again so quickly.
“The change of competition is possibly a good thing for us as well because it can just leave the Premier League behind and focus now on the Champions League and try and get that campaign up and running.
“It's been a tough opening to the season for us. It feels like we've taken some blows. But if we can be resilient enough to absorb those blows and come back stronger, we'll be better for it.”