Howe drops injury hints during pre-Chelsea update on Joelinton, Schar, Trippier & Botman

Eddie Howe has been speaking to the media this morning ahead of Sunday's six-pointer at home to Chelsea.

It's undoubtedly our biggest league game of the season so far and hands us a huge opportunity to boost our hopes of bringing Champions League football back to St James' Park for 2025/26.

But who is fit and what has Howe had to say on injuries ahead of Sunday's 12pm kick-off?

Schar, Trippier and Howe's hint

After revealing that Fabian Schar and Kieran Trippier are "doing pretty good" after being withdrawn with issues in the latter stages of last Sunday's 1-1 draw at Brighton, he hinted at 'one or two' others who are being assessed ahead of Chelsea.

"We've got a couple of players we're looking at and assessing - and we'll see how they are from the weekend," Howe said. But apart from that, we're OK, we trained well this week, I've been pleased with the group, very focused on Sunday."

Asked to name who those 'couple of players' are ahead of Sunday's game, Howe wanted to giving nothig away, saying: "Let's keep that under wraps."

Joelinton surprise?

Last Friday, Howe spoke like a man who knew Joelinton's season was more or less over after speaking to a specialist.

However, the big man is back from Brazil this week and "feeling pretty good" after a trip to Barcelona for another injection, with Howe offering an intriguing "we'll see" update on whether we'll see him or not over our final three games.

"I saw him yesterday for first time in a while," Howe said. "He had returned to Brazil briefly and then went to Barcelona for another injection."

"I think he is feeling pretty good, whether we see him before the end of the season, we’ll see."

Botman close

Sven Botman has had cameo appearances in the closing stages of our last two games and it sounds like he's back in contention to start.

Howe confirmed this morning that the Dutchman is "close" and "feels confident  in his body again" after making a successful return from knee surgery earlier this year.

He's definitely getting there. He's had a sustained run of training, injury free, looking good. He feels confident in his body again after his couple of injuries. He's close."

In summary, Howe leaves us wondering who may be carrying a niggle heading into Sunday's game, but it sounds like Schar and Trippier are OK, Botman is almost ready to start and it would not surprise us in the slightest if Joelinton is back sooner than expected!