Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez has issued injury updates on Jamaal Lascelles, Yoshinori Muto, Jamie Sterry, Florian Lejeune and Paul Dummett.
He explains that Dummett is the only player out of the five that has not trained ahead of the home clash against West Ham on Saturday afternoon, adding that the other four have all participated in training sessions.
Benitez adds that Dummett has trained with a fitness coach and is “very close” to making a return to action after watching him in person.
“The only one that hasn’t trained is Dummett. Lascelles, Lejeune, Muto and Sterry have all trained,” he said, as quoted by Chronicle journalist Lee Ryder via his personal Twitter account.
Rafa on injuries: "The only one that hasn't trained is Dummett. Lascelles, Lejeune, Muto and Sterry have all trained." #nufc
— Lee Ryder (@lee_ryder) November 30, 2018
“He trained with the fitness coach, he made crosses and sprints. I watched him. He is very close.”
Rafa on Dummett: "He trained with the fitness coach, he made crosses and sprints. I watched him. He is very close." #nufc
— Lee Ryder (@lee_ryder) November 30, 2018
OPINION
Dummett may not be any closer to returning at the moment, but at least Benitez has been handed a few boosts in the shapes of the four players who have returned to training. Lascelles will no doubt be in contention to start against the Hammers, although the manager may not want to risk him so soon, so he may have to resort himself to the bench this weekend. However, the injury list seemed to be mounting up for Benitez, and the fact that it has not grown anymore is another positive he can take away from this. He will have the majority of them back soon, and once he does, he will have a major selection headache on his hands – especially in the defence. Whether he will stick with his three central defenders remains to be seen, but seeming as Lascelles is pretty much there and Lejeune is mightily close to returning, he will certainly be spoilt for choice in that department.
