Newcastle United pick up new injury concern as defender back 'pretty soon'
Newcastle United currently have seven senior players injured, five of whom are defenders.
Newcastle United picked up another injury during their Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg defeat at home to Manchester City.
Jacob Murphy was recalled to the starting line-up as Eddie Howe made seven changes from Saturday’s FA Cup third round penalty shootout victory over AFC Bournemouth.
Murphy missed the 120 minutes plus penalties after being left out of the squad as a precaution due to a hamstring complaint, but was deemed fit enough to start against the Citizens last night.
However, it was on the brink of half-time that the 30-year-old succumbed to the same issue, which saw him replaced by Harvey Barnes.
Newcastle United updates on Jacob Murphy & Tino Livramento
Murphy is the second injury the Magpies have suffered in four days after Tino Livramento sustained a hamstring injury on the hour-mark against the Cherries.
United maintain the belief that Murphy’s issue isn’t serious but will assess him further ahead of Sunday’s Premier League trip to bottom of the table Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Meanwhile, Livramento, as per Mail Sport, is set to be sidelined between six to eight weeks.
Speaking after the Man City defeat, Howe said: “We don't think Jacob's injury is serious, but of course, we're waiting to see the full extent. He's had a hamstring problem for a couple of weeks. He's had two scans that come back clear, so we're not quite sure what's going on with him.
“Tino's information, we only got confirmation this morning, so we need to digest that and see what we can do.”
Newcastle United’s seven-man injury list
Of the Magpies’ seven-man injury list, five are defenders, the only exception being Murphy and striker Will Osula.
As well as Livramento, Howe’s side are currently without Jamaal Lascelles, Fabian Schar, Emil Krafth and Dan Burn, which has left them with just four senior defenders in Kieran Trippier, Malick Thiaw, Sven Botman and Lewis Hall.
Thiaw and Botman played 120 minutes at the weekend but Howe had little choice but to play the pair for 90 minutes against Man City, while Hall also completed a full game after playing an hour against Bournemouth.
“Yeah, it's not the situation we want to be in,” Howe admitted. “I think we've tried to rotate healthily this season, in terms of dipping players in and out to keep them fresh and available, to keep them in their best form to be able to perform.”
While Howe unable to rotate in defence, he did so in the midfield and forward line as Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton came in for Joe Willock and Sandro Tonali, while Anthony Gordon and Murphy replaced Nick Woltemade and Harvey Barnes.
Howe continued: “Today we just felt we had no choice but not to play Harvey, Sandro, Nick, because they played 120 minutes two days ago, and just the physical demands on that are so extreme that the likelihood is, if we hadn't done anything, a much higher chance that they could get injured. We can't afford to lose anybody else.”
Dan Burn update and transfer window admission
The number of defensive injuries has led to questions about whether Newcastle will look to sign a defender this month.
But while the club assess their options, Howe is hoping for a boost from within by revealing that he hopes to have Burn back “pretty soon”.
Howe continued: “Defensively, we're really stretched. We're pinning our hopes on Dan being back pretty soon. Dan Burn, that would give us a massive lift, and of course the transfer market is still available to us.”
Howe’s admission came 36 hours after he told the media Burn was still a couple of weeks away from returning.