Newcastle United confirm fresh injury concern over key player ahead of West Ham United clash

Newcastle United will assess Joe Willock ahead of Wednesday night’s Premier League visit to West Ham United (kick-off 8pm).

The former Arsenal midfielder, who opened the scoring in the Magpies’ 2-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday, limped off in the closing stages with a hamstring issue.

“Joe Willock’s the obvious one,” said Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe. “He was feeling his hamstring, but he wasn’t sure if it was cramp or something more sinister. So we’ll wait and see.

“A couple more players just nursing little things because of the physical game that it was.”

Howe was given a big physical effort by his players, who beat Man United to leapfrog them into third in the Premier League table.

With 11 games remaining, Newcastle are firmly in the race for Champions League qualification.

“It was an important win and mostly it was a really good performance from the players,” said Howe. “It was really high energy, high quality and a lot of chances created.

“We kept knocking on the door. Tribute to our fitness levels today. In my opinion, we got stronger in the game, even though we were giving so much to it. Our substitutes made a big difference to it too. They played a big part.

“We are a team of really good athletes and we want to use that and play a high-energy, high-pressing style. We want the ball in play and consistently work on that on the training pitch and it paid off today.

“There are still a lot of games to come even though it is April. Three games in six days this coming week so we know we really have to focus on Wednesday.”

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