Newcastle United's double injury concern ahead of Manchester City clash as replacement lined up

Newcastle United could be without both left-footed centre-backs for their Premier League trip to Manchester City this weekend.

The Magpies were already without Sven Botman for Saturday’s FA Cup fourth round win at Birmingham City after the Dutchman picked up a knee issue in the 2-0 Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg victory over Arsenal three days earlier. At St Andrew’s, Dan Burn was forced off with a groin issue.

United boss Eddie Howe made nine changes against Birmingham, with only Burn and Bruno Guimaraes retaining their places. Guimaraes swapped with Sandro Tonali at half-time in what was a pre-planned substitution but Burn stayed on the field with no like-for-like replacement available.

But less than 15 minutes into the second-half, the Blyth-born defender needed to withdraw and was replaced by Fabian Schar. The former Switzerland international played on the left side with Emil Krafth, and that will likely be Newcastle’s centre-back pairing at the Etihad Stadium, if Botman or Burn are ruled out.

Will Dan Burn and Sven Botman be available versus Man City?

“I don't know at this moment in time,” Howe told reporters immediately after the win at Birmingham. “Of course, we'd love him [Botman] to be, but we don't know how serious Dan's injury is at the moment.

“I was a reluctant starter of Dan tonight. I didn't want to take that risk with any of our players. But we played against Wednesday because we knew the physical cost of that game, but numbers dictated we had to.”

You couldn’t write it, or could you?

Burn has been available for all but one of Newcastle’s 31 games in all competitions this campaign, and he only missed that because of a one-match suspension.

The 32-year-old’s durability and form restricted summer signing Lloyd Kelly to just six starts. That, coupled with Botman’s recent return from a long-term knee injury, was a part of the reason why the Magpies sanctioned Kelly’s loan move to Juventus, though the biggest incentive, of course, was the £20million obligation to buy clause.

But the irony is, Kelly would have likely started against Birmingham - in theory preventing Burn’s injury, or at the very least been able to step in for Burn when United face Man City on Saturday afternoon.

Since Kelly’s departure, Newcastle have gone from a healthy position at centre-back to sweating. You couldn’t write, or could you?

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