Anthony Gordon is out of Newcastle United’s final match of the season after picking up an Achilles injury during the team’s 3-2 defeat to Manchester United last week.
The 23-year-old is hoping to be named in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the European Championship, was hurt in a tackle by Sofyan Amrabat which went unpunished by the match officials. Eddie Howe, the Newcastle head coach, later described the challenge as a “stonewall” penalty.
At his pre-match press conference on Friday, Howe had said he was unsure if Gordon would be fit to take his place in the Newcastle team at Brentford. “We will wait and see how he is today. I’m not 100% sure as I sit here now exactly how he is. Certainly that tackle left a mark on him,” he said.
Gordon is not expected to head to Australia for Newcastle’s post-season matches with Tottenham Hotspur and A-League All Stars this week. Newcastle are flying straight from London after the Brentford match and Gordon has not travelled with the squad down.
In better news for Newcastle, Nick Pope, the England goalkeeper, returns to the starting line-up more than five months after dislocating his shoulder in the home game against Manchester United.
Joelinton, the Brazil midfielder, starts a game for the first time since early January, while Callum Wilson returns from illness to take a place on the substitutes’ bench.
Full team: Pope, Schar, Joelinton, Isak, Barnes, Krafth, Hall, Murphy, Burn (c), Longstaff, Guimaraes. Substitutes: Dubravka, Trippier, Dummett, Wilson, Ritchie, Almiron, Anderson, White, Murphy.