Callum Wilson and Bruno Guimaraes Fulham withdrawal explained amid Newcastle United injury question

Eddie Howe has revealed the decision to substitute Callum Wilson and Bruno Guimaraes against Fulham was to protect both players from injury.

Prior to his return at Craven Cottage, Wilson had missed the previous five games with a hamstring injury. Guimaraes, meanwhile, withdrew from the Brazil squad with a thigh issue.

Wilson scored the opener in West London and Guimaraes assisted Miguel Almiron’s first goal. A strike from Sean Longstaff and a second from Almiron put United 4-0 up before Howe took the pair off the pitch.

Newcastle saw out the game comfortably against 10 men, although Bobby Decordova-Reid did score a late consolation for the home side.

No concerns over Bruno Guimaraes and Callum Wilson

Howe said: “The beauty of today and the way the game went allowed me to protect them because they’ve had minimal training.

“They’re two hugely important players, so obviously the later we go in the game, the more at risk they are until we build their training load.

“(I’m) delighted to be able to take them off.”

The United head coach added: “The difficulty is you can go into a game with a plan to protect these players but when there are points at stake, it’s very difficult to withdraw them when you know they can be the difference between winning and losing.

“But with the scoreline, and the way the game was, it was important to try and keep them fit.”

Newcastle hope to have Allan Saint-Maximin available for Saturday’s visit of Brentford after returning to training on Friday.