The Sweden winger has missed out completely on facing Man United on Boxing Day
Anthony Elanga was the notable omission from Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United squad for the clash at Old Trafford tonight.
The Sweden international suffered a knock towards the end of the 2-2 draw with Chelsea and was not risked. Newcastle made the bold move to bring in 16-year-old Sam Alabi to replace him.
Elanga missed a golden chance to win the game for Newcastle against the Blues when he went clean through but sent it wide rather than picking out a team-mate with Yoane Wissa nearby.
Howe had said to Chronicle Live on Elanga: “With Anth, it is really strange. If you put all of his best moments together in a Newcastle shirt, you’d see a showreel of a player who has some unbelievable attributes, and he’s done some really, really good things for the team.
“Even the moment on Saturday (vs Chelsea), not many other players would have been able to elevate themselves into that position because they would not have his speed or athleticism to get there in the first place.
“So I think sometimes we are very quick to analyse things negatively rather than the positive.”
Newcastle released a statement reading: “Anthony Elanga misses out this evening due to an injury sustained in our 2-2 draw with Chelsea last weekend. Speedy recovery.”
Howe named an unchanged team to face the Red Devils.. The Magpies had played extremely well in the first half against Chelsea to lead 2-0 before running out of steam.
The Magpies manager, however, resisted any thoughts about changing his starting XI, opting to send the same men out after a six-day break between games.
Howe has been restricted in his options due to the availability of a number of key players. Sven Botman is closing in on a return while Joelinton is still on the bench after a groin issue which has seen him an unused substitute. The Magpies also had Alex Murphy, Sean Neave and Leo Shahar on the bench, as well as Alabi. All four have yet to start a Premier League game with only Murphy having appeared from the bench.
UNITED: Ramsdale, Miley, Schar, Thiaw, Hall, Guimaraes, Tonali, Ramsey, J Murphy, Woltemade, Gordon. Subs: Pope, Joelinton, Wissa, Barnes, Willock, A. Murphy, Shahar, Neave, Alabi.
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