Newcastle optimistic Anthony Gordon has avoided serious injury ahead of England squad announcement

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Newcastle United are confident winger Anthony Gordon has avoided any serious damage to his knee after sustaining an injury in Monday night’s 3-2 defeat at Chelsea.

Though it is understood the 23-year-old faces a race to be fit for the FA Cup tie against Manchester City on Saturday, the issue will likely not rule him out of potentially being included in the England squad that will be named by Gareth Southgate on Thursday.

Southgate’s side face friendlies against Brazil and Belgium during the international break.

Gordon is known to be firmly in the thoughts of the England hierarchy, with the FA in contact since Monday to check on the severity of the injury.

The player experienced growing pain throughout the first half on Monday, and was eventually forced off after going down.

Initially, there were fears Gordon had suffered the first major injury of his career — with head coach Eddie Howe saying it “didn’t look good”.  However, subsequent scans on Tuesday and Wednesday have confirmed that there is no major issue.

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Gordon has enjoyed a breakthrough season this campaign, with 17 goal contributions across all competitions, the most in Newcastle’s squad.

This will be England’s last squad before the European Championships, and is expected to indicate which players are in Southgate’s thinking for the tournament. The manager has previously been reluctant to pick players for major championships without first including them in a training squad — though Gordon has excelled for England Under-21s, winning player of the tournament as they won the Euros last summer.

On England’s left side, Jack Grealish is currently out injured — though Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, a rival for the squad, is also in stellar form.

(Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)