Newcastle United 'key player' ruled out of two matches - likely to extend to five games

Isak missed Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Premier League champions Manchester City with his replacement Anthony Gordon scoring the equaliser from the penalty spot after Josko Gvardiol opened the scoring.

The Sweden international has been struggled with a broken toe and required an injection to play against Fulham last weekend. However, the injury has continued to cause pain, meaning Isak didn’t train in the build-up to Man City.

The decision was taken to leave Isak out of the squad. He won’t feature against AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday and is a major doubt for next Saturday’s league trip to Everton.

Next up is the international break, where Sweden are due to face Martin Dubravka’s Slovakia and Estonia in the Nations League, before the campaign resumes with a home tie against Brighton & Hove Albion on October 19.

“He definitely won't feature on Tuesday, let’s see how he looks for Everton,” said Newcastle boss Eddie Howe. “Of course there is an international period coming up after that and he’s an international player so we’ll see the implications of all that but we’ll make decisions during this week.

“It’s not a serious injury but it’s a niggly one that is obviously preventing a key player playing for us.”

Meanwhile, United will assess Sandro Tonali and Kieran Trippier ahead of facing Wimbledon after they were forced off with cramp against Pep Guardiola’s side.

Asked about the pair, Howe explained: “Yeah, I think that's how you want a player to exit the pitch, really. I think that's the difference between this week and last week, both players had given everything they could give anymore and they had to come off and I always say to the players, 'that's how I want you to play'.

“Both players had, for different reasons, but broken pre-seasons. You can still see Sandro's got a little bit of fitness work to do to get to his best, he comes off with cramp and Kieran we hope his crap but we're not 100% sure at the moment. But really good displays from both players today.”