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Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United team news: Eddie Howe has made a decision on Sven Botman after a lengthy injury absence.
Newcastle United news: Headlines, team updates, match previews and reports - all things NUFC
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Howe has made two changes from his Newcastle United side that beat Manchester United 2-0 on Monday with the suspended Fabian Schar dropping out along with Kieran Trippier. Tino Livramento returns to the starting line-up at right-back while it’s a first first-team appearance for Sven Botman since March 2024.
Botman has missed almost 10 months with an ACL injury but has been back training for over a month and has played in a few practice matches to complete his recovery process. Last month he played 60 minutes for the Under-21s side without any problems.
Now he’s tasked with Premier League football straight in from the start with Lloyd Kelly remaining on the bench. Nick Pope, Emil Krafth, Jamaal Lascelles and Callum Wilson remain sidelined due to injury.
Speaking ahead of the match, Howe said on Botman’s potential return: “I've always said with Sven, he'd [be back] in and around the Christmas games.
“He's worked incredibly hard to get himself in a good condition. He's had three games, a lot of internal training as well so some match stimulus so he's certainly in and around my thoughts.
“I'll have to make a decision as to who I think best fits that position but great to have Sven in and around and available again.”
When asked if he would have reservations about putting Botman straight back into the side after such a long period without playing, Howe responded: “No, because you go through a process with the type of injury Sven's had, he's done and incredible amount of work.
“It's not like he's not had the training time with us, we've taken longer than maybe we normally would have done through respect for the injury that he had to try and make sure he had the best chance of staying fit and when he comes back, hitting the ground running which is absolutely vital.
“I've got a decision to make in terms of team selection but if Sven is in the squad it's because he's fit and available.”
NUFC line-up v Spurs: Dubravka; Livramento, Botman, Burn, Hall; Tonali, Guimaraes, Joelinton; Murphy, Gordon, Isak