Eddie Howe Hints at Sandro Tonali's Possible Return for Final Game

Eddie Howe is refusing to rule out a late-season boost from Sandro Tonali, with the Newcastle boss revealing the midfielder could yet feature on Sunday despite a recent hamstring scare.

Tonali limped off in the win over West Ham last week, casting doubt over his involvement in Newcastle’s final Premier League game of the season at Fulham. For a side finishing strongly and desperate to carry momentum into the summer, his availability matters.

Howe, though, struck a calm note.

“Sandro, potentially, will be available,” he said. “We will look at him again today. We don’t think it is anything serious.”

It is the kind of update that lifts a training ground. Tonali has endured an interrupted campaign, but his presence in midfield still gives Newcastle a different rhythm and edge in possession. Even the suggestion he might make it is a psychological nudge in the right direction.

If Tonali’s status is a wait-and-see, the emergence of Osula is already a clear and present positive.

The young forward struck twice in that 3-1 victory over relegation-threatened West Ham, a performance that did more than just secure three points. It hinted at a new attacking option taking shape under Howe’s guidance, raw but exciting.

“He is at a really good age,” Howe said. “Lots of things to continue to work on, there are lots of untapped areas we can develop.

“The ceiling in his development is really high. He has the raw ingredients, the physical profile too.”

Those are the sort of phrases Howe reserves for players he believes can become central pieces, not just short-term cover. Osula’s brace arrived with timing that managers crave: the last home game, the crowd in full voice, a season that has swung from frustration to optimism in the space of a month.

“It was great to win our last home game. That left us all with a great feeling. We want to end the season on a real high.”

A month ago, that kind of talk might have sounded optimistic. Newcastle’s form had stuttered, and their last defeat, away to Premier League champions Arsenal in April, felt like a harsh reminder of the levels required at the very top.

Since then, something has shifted. Results have turned, performances with the ball have sharpened, and the mood has followed.

“Newcastle’s form has turned on its head over the last month,” Howe reflected, and the evidence is on the pitch: more control in possession, more conviction in the final third, fewer of the soft moments that cost them earlier in the campaign.

Now comes Fulham, the final hurdle.

“We hope to continue the upturn in our recent performances, upturn in our in-possession play, we want to end the season high, it is an important match for us.”

No talk of drifting over the line. No sense of a dead rubber. For Howe, this is about leaving a mark, about making sure that when the players walk off at Craven Cottage, they do so with the feeling that this late surge is not a blip, but a platform.

Tonali’s hamstring, Osula’s rise, the renewed fluency in possession – all of it feeds into a single question as the curtain comes down: is this the first glimpse of the Newcastle that will turn up next season, or just the final flourish of this one?