Anthony Gordon returns ahead of Brighton clash in early Newcastle boost

Anthony Gordon missed the last two Newcastle United games in suspicious circumstances that prompted a strong denial from Eddie Howe.

Just 24 hours after Eddie Howe sat in front of the media and proclaimed, in a response to a question about Anthony Gordon, that any player not 100% committed to Newcastle United wouldn't play for the club under his stewardship, Gordon was absent from the team sheet for the game against Bournemouth.

The timing spoke volumes for a lot of people who refused to buy into the official line that Gordon had picked up a hip injury in training. Especially as Howe made no mention of it in his press conference despite allegedly knowing for two days before teh presser that Gordon was unlikely to feature against the Cherries.

Heading into the game against Arsenal, Howe made it clear that Gordon had not recovered and would not feature against the Gunners, and seemed rather offended when asked if players were picking and choosing which games to be involved in, which Howe labelled as a 'non-question'.

Anthony Gordon will return to training today

It has been reported by The Daily Mail today that Anthony Gordon is returning to training today and is likely to be involved against Brighton on Saturday.

That should take the heat off Eddie Howe a bit ahead of Friday's press conference, but whether it takes any of the heat off Gordon, we'll only find out when he's on the ball in front of the fans on Saturday.

Speculation over Gordon's future refuses to go away, and his latest absence just added fuel to the conspiracy fires, so his return is going to be interesting to watch.

Gordon may feel he has a point to prove

Whatever you think of him and whether or not you believe the conspiracies that he's given up on the club, you have to admit that his return should be a boost for the team ahead of a tricky game against the Seagulls.

If Newcastle had someone more inclined to run beyond defenders on Saturday against Arsenal, we might have got something from that game.

Anthony Gordon, on his day, can make things happen for us. He's not done it anywhere near enough this season, we won't deny that, but with all of the talk around him of late, hopefully, he will feel he has a point to prove, especially with just four more games left to show Thomas Tuchel why he should be starting for England at the World Cup.