Newcastle have avoided the prospect of a storm-enforced late arrival on the south coast of England before Saturday’s match at Southampton.
Eddie Howe and his players arrived in Hampshire on Friday afternoon after their plane proved one of only a handful cleared to take off from Newcastle as Storm Éowyn forced the cancellation of a raft of flights to and from the airport. The north-east spent Friday under an amber weather alert and was battered by dangerous wind speeds sometimes in excess of 80mph.
Newcastle’s manager had admitted earlier that the prospect of the team arriving in Southampton on Friday was highly uncertain. “We could end up flying tomorrow morning,” he said. “We have travelled on the day of the game before, especially if the airport is close to the ground. Sometimes, if it’s a 5.30pm kick-off, that’s the easiest because you fly straight in and out. A 3pm kick-off is unusual but I don’t see it as an issue.”
Howe had ruled out the possibility of travelling south by road. “It’s a long journey,” he said. “And there’s no guarantees. The wind and the conditions could mean that an eight- or nine-hour road trip could turn into a 12- or 13-hour journey.”
Newcastle hope to have Nick Pope back in the squad at Southampton after the goalkeeper’s recovery from the knee injury that has sidelined him for the past month. Although Martin Dubravka is expected to keep his place in the starting XI Pope could be on the bench as they aim to recover from last weekend’s chastening 4-1 home defeat by Bournemouth.
Callum Wilson remains sidelined with a hamstring injury, Howe hopes the former England striker will be ready to return in early February. “Callum’s making good progress,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure he’s robust enough before he starts training. He seems very positive – and what a massive player it would be to welcome back.”
Despite his delight at the club’s plan to move to a new training ground, Howe will not be involved in its design of a complex expected to be built either near the airport at Woolsington or near Gosforth Park racecourse. “I think I will be very much in the background,” said Howe. “Probably hearing about what the experts have planned and then hopefully looking on in awe at what we are going to do.”
With Miguel Almirón’s mooted move to Atlanta in MLS still not quite confirmed, Newcastle are expected to have a quiet January in the transfer market as they strive to comply with profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
These regulations have restricted Howe’s room for transfer market manoeuvre and the manager confirmed an assertion from the agent of Abdukhodir Khusanov, stating that Newcastle were very close to signing thecentre-back from Lens before concerns regarding PSR enabled Manchester City to step in and sign the 20-year-old Uzbekistan international for around £34m. Howe and Newcastle’s sporting director, Paul Mitchell, had done a lot of work on the potential deal before it was, in effect, vetoed by Newcastle’s Saudi Arabian owners.
