Steve Bruce spoke to the press ahead of Newcastle’s trip to Burnley on Saturday, and confirmed up to seven players are doubtful, or ruled out, of the game through injury.
With the Magpies in fine form recently, the last thing they need is another spate of injuries to derail their surge, but it appears they could be going into the game against a struggling Burnley side with a patched up team.
It had been long-known that Allan Saint-Maximin had damaged his hamstring during last weekend’s win against Southampton, and that was always going to be a huge blow.
But according to the Chronicle, Bruce also confirmed Miguel Almiron has a tight hamstring, while Jonjo Shelvey has a sore calf.
With both players having rediscovered their form during the current good run of results, it would be ironic if both were forced to miss out this weekend.
Schar coming in will actually improve Newcastle’s defence
Ciaran Clark and Ki Sung-Yueng join Saint-Maximin and long-term absentees Matt Ritchie and Jamaal Lascelles as being ruled out completely, which will see Bruce likely to juggle his side.
Fortunately, having Fabian Schar to come in and replace Clark, will actually improve the back line in many fans’ eyes, and as long as Almiron and Shelvey can shake off their niggles, it leaves Saint-Maximin as the only major miss from last weekend.
Quite how Bruce changes things to accommodate the French winger’s absence remains to be seen, but bringing Christian Atsu in as a straight swap will be the most likely scenario.
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