EDDIE HOWE has admitted that Sven Botman faces at least another fortnight on the sidelines as he continues to recover from a knee injury.

Botman was not part of the Newcastle squad this afternoon as Eddie Howe’s side cruised to a 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace.

The Dutch centre-half has been sidelined since the 8-0 thrashing of Sheffield United, and did not report for international duty with the Netherlands earlier this week.

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It had been hoped he would be available shortly after the international break, but that is not the case.

Botman will not feature in either Wednesday’s Champions League game with Borussia Dortmund and next weekend’s Premier League game at Wolves, and is also expected to miss the Carabao Cup fourth-round game at Manchester United at the start of next month.

Howe said: “Sven wasn’t close today. I couldn’t really say that in the build-up to the game, but he hasn’t trained with us yet. He’s got a bit of a way to go. We’re hopeful it won’t be too long, but he certainly won’t be available in the next couple of weeks.”

Howe was delighted with today’s four-goal win over Palace, with the victory lifting the Magpies back into the Premier League’s top five.

The Magpies boss said: “It was a really important game today. It can’t be overestimated just how hard those games after an international break are because you haven’t had a full squad, and we’re having to manage players who have travelled a long way and had a big mental load for their country.

“I’m really pleased with the players’ response to that because these are very tough games. Crystal Palace don’t concede a lot of goals, so we knew the first goal today was going to be really, really important. Thankfully, we got it quite early.”