Brilliant news update on Bruno Guimaraes ahead of Crystal Palace match later today – Report | OneFootball

All Newcastle United fans anxiously waiting for news on when Bruno Guimares might return.

The midfielder rolling his ankle after 18 minutes against Fulham but playing on through the pain until half-time on Sunday, when he left the pitch in tears and didn’t reappear for the second half, replaced by ASM.

After the game, Bruno Guimaraes spotted leaving St James’ Park on crutches, wearing a protective boot.

Earlier this week the reporting from various media (of the more reliable kind) told us that their information was no lasting damage, that his absence would be measured in weeks rather than months. Indeed, one or two went so far as to say there was a very slim chance Bruno Guimaraes could be available for Palace on Saturday (today).

Eddie Howe gave this update on Friday (yesterday) morning ahead of training:

“Bruno’s scan was positive.

“We’re still not sure when he’s going to be back but he’s making good progress.

“We’ll have a constant eye on that situation.”

Well, we now have an update from The Mail on Bruno Guimaraes, Craig Hope covers Newcastle United for the newspaper and has a very good track record of bringing (accurate!) injury / fitness news ahead of his competitors…

Craig Hope writing in The Mail – 20 January 2023:

‘Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes has made a remarkable recovery from the ankle injury that threatened to keep him out for a prolonged period and is set to be involved against Crystal Palace this weekend.

There were fears the Brazilian was looking at months on the sidelines after exiting St James’ Park on crutches following Sunday’s 1-0 win over Fulham. He rolled his ankle in the first half and played on for 25 minutes before leaving the pitch in tears.

However, we understand Guimaraes has now declared himself fit for Saturday’s tea-time kick-off at Selhurst Park, in what is a major boost for Eddie Howe.’

Earlier in the week I was saying, pretty much anybody who has played football, at any level, has done something similar to this. It is very painful at the time, no matter whether it proves to be something serious, or no significant longer-term harm.

However, I think the fact he did play on for the rest of that first half, even though not lo0king comfortable much of the time, hopefully pointed to it not being on the serious side of things.

As I say, from my experience, having over the years doing everything from very minor to major ankle injuries, I think I have a decent understanding on this one. As I say above, the fact he was able to keep playing WAS a massive positive to me. In the past I found that if your ankle had been damaged in any kind of even remotely semi-significant way, it isn’t just the pain you suffer immediately that is an issue, my experience is that it is literally impossible to even walk in a normal way, never mind jog / run and keep playing football. You rest your whole weight on your ankle and it just can’t do the job if there is damage. It isn’t like if you hurt your arm, wrist, shoulder or whatever, where you might have a lot of pain and indeed find out you have done some decent damage afterwards, but have still been able to carry on in that particular match, with adrenaline kicking in etc.

Anyway, great news on Bruno Guimaraes and interesting to see what Eddie Howe now does with his selection. Bruno may well have bounced back quickly from last Sunday but even though there is no lasting damage, will the NUFC Head Coach be thinking he can play both at Palace and at Southampton on Tuesday night, or is it a case of choosing one of them to start the Brazilian? Having him on the bench for the other game maybe?

This is the complete Newcastle United match and live TV schedule so far confirmed up to end of February 2023 (plus Carabao Cup dates):

Tuesday 24 January 2023 – Southampton v Newcastle (8pm) Carabao Cup semi-final first leg – Sky Sports

Tuesday 31 January 2023 – Newcastle v Southampton (8pm) Carabao Cup semi-final second leg -Sky Sports

Saturday 4 February 2023 – Newcastle v West Ham (5.30pm) Sky Sports

Saturday 11 February 2023 – Bournemouth v Newcastle (5.30pm) Sky Sports

Saturday 18 February 2023 – Newcastle v Liverpool (5.30pm) Sky Sports

Saturday 25 February 2023 – Newcastle v Brighton (12.30pm) BT Sport

(Sunday 26 February 2023 – Carabao Cup final)