Unfortunately, Pochettino also revealed hopes that Christopher Nkunku and Romeo Lavia might be ready to return to the squad at Newcastle haven’t been realised, as both players still need more time before they are ready for action.
‘Lavia and Nkunku are still out. There is no timeframe for them, it is difficult to say because we need to assess them day-by-day. They are in a good condition, Nkunku a little bit ahead of Lavia. He was doing things with the group last week but it is still not a full recovery to be part of the squad.’
He expanded on Nkunku’s progress and stressed that for all the French forward’s talents, it is important to balance expectations for his immediate return with the understanding it could take time for him to fully recover his form while adjusting to his first season in the Premier League.
‘Now he is going to find massive competition because all his team-mates are ahead of him because for the last four months they were competing and he needs again to build his form and be at this best level. Then to compete with players who are competing for months is a big challenge for him.
‘We need to understand that he comes from an injury so he needs time. We’re going to need to be patient with him to start to compete, play and discover again the competition.
‘Then it’s not a competition that he was normally used to playing and he can recover the feelings from last season or the season before. He is a player who came from the Bundesliga and he needs now not only to recover from his injury, but get to know the league. He’s going to need time to perform at his best.’
Det ser ud til, at der er lang vej endnu for Nkunku.
Kampen i dag bliver mere en slåskamp end en fodboldkamp. Newcastle går lige til stregen og gerne over stregen. Det så vi mod Arsenal og også sidste år mod Chelsea. Lad os håbe på en dygtig og modig dommer.
Osgood