Tino Livramento remains sidelined for Newcastle United’s FA Cup tie against Manchester City.
Following their dramatic 2-1 win against Manchester United, Newcastle face Pep Guardiola’s side for the fifth time this season. However, they will be without Livramento, as confirmed by Eddie Howe.
Livramento’s Fitness Progress
Howe provided an update on Livramento’s condition, stating, “Tino [Livramento] is getting there, let’s wait and see. He hasn’t trained with us yet but he has done a lot of work.”
Howe added, “There’s no question on how his fitness is. He has been running for a long time. He has a lot of work behind him, but it is just that training time with us.”
Woltemade Returns, Miley Still Out
In more positive news for the Magpies, Nick Woltemade is expected to be available after recovering from an illness that kept him out of the midweek win against Manchester United. “Nick [Woltemade] should be okay, had an illness and lost a bit of weight. He trained yesterday individually and felt okay so that’s a positive,” Howe said.
However, Lewis Miley will also remain sidelined. Howe stated: “Lewis [Miley] will not make the next couple of games.”
Howe on Facing Manchester City
Reflecting on the upcoming match against Manchester City, Howe acknowledged the challenges his team faces. “The games against Manchester City have all been close. We’ve have had chances against them. I don’t think we’ve been as clinical as we need to be to win those games and, of course defensively, we need to be watertight,” he stated.
He added, “They’re always going to test you. They are a difficult team to pin down in every moment. It will be a proper FA Cup tie where it’s one of those end-to-end games. That will suit us and we will need to get the crowd involved.”
The Importance of St. James’ Park
Howe also emphasised the importance of the home crowd. “The crowd react to us. It is our duty to set the tone and I felt we did that against Manchester United, with a bright start, energetic and positive in our outlook trying to score and attack in the right way,” he said.
“The crowd then backed us to the very end and helped us get us over the line to win that game. We need a ferocious St. James’ Park but that’s going to come from our body language and start to the game.”
Newcastle will aim to be more clinical and defensively solid as they seek to progress in the FA Cup, but they will have to do so without Livramento.