Livramento relief but will Newcastle use January window?

There will be a degree of relief inside Newcastle United.

Defender Tino Livramento will be out for weeks, rather than months, after suffering a knee injury in the midweek win against Fulham.

But Eddie Howe's side are looking particularly light at the back ahead of the visit of Chelsea on Saturday with Sven Botman, Dan Burn, Kieran Trippier and Emil Krafth also currently sidelined.

"We haven't even had a week where we could regroup," the Newcastle head coach said.

So it felt telling that Howe referenced how Newcastle "have the transfer window if we need it" in the same answer.

Newcastle have money to spend and Howe has previously made a number of significant signings in January, including Bruno Guimaraes, Anthony Gordon, Burn and Trippier.

But it is a notoriously difficult window to strengthen in because clubs are even more reluctant to lose their best players as there is so little time left to find a replacement.

Any business Newcastle do would have to fall in line with their summer plan, and Howe warned against "fixing a short-term need to create a long-term problem" on Friday.

That was a reference to the club's defensive injury crisis, which could have eased by the time the window is in full swing.

But a relentless schedule is showing no signs of slowing down.

Newcastle play 15 fixtures in four different competitions between 20 December and 10 February, which works out, on average, as a game every three or so days.

As much as that run will stretch the squad, it is also a chance for 12th-placed Newcastle to finally go on a run.

"We've got to try and hit that purple patch," Howe added.