Eddie Howe gives injury update as Will Osula and Sven Botman miss Gateshead game

by Ash Harrison · 26 July 2026, 12:21

Newcastle United drew 1-1 with Gateshead FC on Saturday in their first public pre-season friendly.

There were still many first-team players missing for Eddie Howe, whose squad was made up mostly of young prospects with a smattering of first-team players in the starting XI.

Nick Pope, Lewis Hall, Fabian Schar, Jacob Ramsey, Joe Willock, Jacob Murphy and Harvey Barnes were the only regular first-teamers in the side, with new signing Sean Steur given a 90-minute run-out while Ewen Jaoeun got some minutes too.

After playing in the behind-closed-doors friendly against Darlington, both Sven Botman and Will Osula were absent from Saturday's squad.

Eddie Howe gave a brief injury update on Saturday

Speaking after the game, Eddie Howe confirmed that both had picked up knocks before the game, but neither sounds too serious.

Howe also gave an update on other players recovering from injury ahead of the trip to Bristol City on Wednesday.

"Sven just took a little knock to the face yesterday in training, but we don't think it's anything too serious. Will just had a tight groin, so again, nothing serious. We anticipate that all the injured players that we have are on good track at the moment.
"They're all looking like they'll be back in and available around La Manga, maybe Tino Livramento apart. So, I think the squad's in relatively good health."

We may see more familiar faces on Wednesday

Anthony Elanga, Bazoumana Toure and Aladji Bamba are all in training but obviously arrived later than the rest so have been given a bit of extra time to get up to speed.

Eddie Howe didn't confirm if any of the three will play a part on Wednesday, but didn't rule it out either.

We're hoping to see a few more recognisable names on the teamsheet on Wednesday and a bit more of an upbeat performance.

Although if we're being honest, we're mostly looking forward to seeing 18-year-old Sean Steur back in action to see if Saturday was just a one-off or if he's really that good.