Joe Willock shares how he felt after marking his Newcastle return with a goal against Arsenal

Add as preferred source on Google

Joe Willock marked his return from injury with a goal against his former Arsenal team as Newcastle United lost yet another game this season.

Willock’s return was one of the only positives for Eddie Howe who was massively disappointed with his team’s performance, and to see the midfielder score a great goal was another little boost for the boss.

Speaking to NUFCTV after the game, Willock claimed it had been ‘heartbreaking’ to be on the sidelines for so long and he was just pleased to be back out on the pitch with his teammates.

Willock’s ‘bittersweet’ feeling after scoring for Newcastle

It’s been a difficult season for Newcastle with all the injuries, but it’s been tough on Willock in particular who has had to be so patient and work so hard to get back into the team.

The midfielder injured his hamstring at the back end of last season and after a setback he had to wait until October to make his return only to injure his Achilles a few weeks later.

After then being rumoured to be returning in January for the game against Man City, the £25m signing had to wait until the end of February to make just his fourth Premier League appearance of the season.

As he entered the pitch it was so clear to see that Newcastle had dearly missed his energy and pace in the midfield and will now be hoping they can keep him fit for the remainder of the season, particularly if he can keep on scoring goals like that.

On scoring, Willock said: “It was a bittersweet feeling for me. It’s been a long journey on the sideline. It’s been very heartbreaking to be honest, one of the hardest times in my career.

“I haven’t been able to be with my teammates, my teammates who I love so much and they’ve helped me a lot, there’s a really brotherhood in the squad so it means so much to finally be on the pitch with them.”

Arsenal absolutely embarrassed Newcastle

There have been some pretty poor performances from Newcastle this season, but that first half against Arsenal made it look like the hosts were enjoying a simple training session.

It was good to see both Willock and Alexander Isak make their returns, but apart from that there was almost nothing that Howe could take from the game as a positive moving forwards.

The best thing that the team and the staff can do now is completely forget about what was a pathetic showing and look to make amends by winning against Blackburn on Tuesday.

All they can hope to do now is make a good showing of themselves in the FA Cup and hope there’s still another trip to Wembley to look forward to at the end of the season.