Newcastle United had been without Elliot Anderson for four months due to a stress fracture in his back.
Elliot Anderson returned to Newcastle United’s lineup on Tuesday night after missing four months due to a back ailment.
The 21-year-old had not appeared since October’s 4-0 victory against Crystal Palace for the Magpies. Eddie Howe quickly named the midfield player in his squad for the FA Cup fifth round trip to Blackburn Rovers when the team resumed training on Monday.
Anderson stood on the sidelines as Sammie Szmodics cancelled out Anthony Gordon’s first goal, forcing extra time. Howe had to substitute Anderson for Lewis Miley, 17, after both teams were unable to come up with a winner, so that Anderson could take a penalty.
Anderson didn’t touch the ball until he took United’s fourth spot-kick with a short amount of time left. He maintained his composure as Newcastle won the shootout 4–3 to go into the competition’s quarterfinals for just the second time in the previous 18 years.
At full time, the Scotland young international was unable to contain his excitement. He added, “It’s been a very tough period on the sidelines away from the team, and last night is exactly what I missed!” in a post on X, the platform that was formerly known as Twitter. I’m very glad to see the shirt on @NUFC again.”
Howe, however, had nothing but admiration for Anderson. “It’s worth noting how much I trust him,” the United manager remarked. “I took Lewy off the pitch and put Elliot on because I trust him in the big moments.”
“He’s very good technically, a specialist set-piece and penalty taker, but he hasn’t really trained or played. Despite his intense rehabilitation efforts, he looks extremely fit, so I’m really happy with him, but he’s coming in cold.” He deserves a lot of praise for accepting his punishment.
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