Newcastle manager Steve Bruce offered a worrying initial injury update after the Magpies showed some serious resilience to beat Southampton 3-2 on Saturday afternoon.
Newcastle saw Javi Manquillo forced off after he went down in the 22nd minute, marking the introduction of Emil Krafth.
That was unfortunately just the tipping point of injury troubles for the Magpies, as star striker Callum Wilson went down in the 34th minute and had to be replaced by Joelinton.
If that wasn’t difficult enough, with the side already down to ten men following Jeff Hendrick’s sending off, key defender Fabian Schar went down and Newcastle had to finish the game with nine players.
Bruce offered an update on the massive blows to BBC Sport in his post-match interview. The Gaffer stated that Manquillo may have ‘done his ankle ligaments’ in a devastating blow.
Newcastle’s gaffer also admitted that Schar looks in a ‘bad way’ after his knee injury, adding that the club don’t know ‘how bad’ the knock to Wilson is at this moment in time.
Here’s what the 60-year-old had to say on the injury blows:
“Well it’s hampered us all season, whether it’s been illness or injuries. Today it looks as if Manquillo has done his ankle ligaments.”
“Fab Schar looks in a bad way with his knee. That could be pretty serious. So it’s one step forward and always two back it seems at the minute – with injuries.”
“Callum Wilson is another where we don’t know how bad it is. The amount of games we’re playing is ridiculous, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday. You’re going to get injuries unfortunately.”
With two wins from their last three pushing the Magpies a little further from the danger, injuries to such key players is really the last thing they needed when they looked as though they could turn a corner.
The northern powerhouses will have had an eight-day gap when their next fixture against Chelsea comes around, with the fact that the side aren’t in the FA Cup the reason for this little rest.