The official reason why Joelinton misses Newcastle United's Premier League clash vs Ipswich Town

Newcastle United are without Joelinton for their Premier League clash against Ipswich Town.

After naming the same starting XI for seven consecutive matches, Eddie Howe - back from illness - has been forced into one change as the Brazilian drops out for Joe Willock.

The Magpies can move up to third in the Premier League and further underlined their Champions League qualification credentials with a win over Ipswich. The visitors will be officially relegated from England’s top-flight after just one season if they fail to win at St James’ Park.

The official reason why Joelinton misses Newcastle United vs Ipswich Town

Newcastle have explained Joelinton’s absence on their club website, revealing the 28-year-old is missing with a knee issue.

“Howe has made one change from the side which suffered a 4-1 away defeat against Aston Villa last weekend as Joe Willock replaces Joelinton, who is missing from today's encounter with a knee injury,” the website read.

Joelinton has been nursing a knee issue since February. When asked earlier this month if the midfielder could play through it, Howe, speaking ahead of the 3-0 win at Leicester City, told NewcastleWorld: "We hope so, yeah. He'd be another one in the category that's got a niggle, but knowing Joey, he'll probably say he's fine today and good to train. So we'd have to manage him and we'd have to look after him and try and navigate the next few days.”

Joelinton also missed the reverse fixture at Ipswich Town back in December due to suspension. Newcastle won the match 4-0 with Alexander Isak scoring a hat-trick and Jacob Murphy finding the net.

Joelinton out but key man returns for Newcastle United

Sven Botman is back on the bench for Newcastle against Ipswich, while Fabian Schar has been passed fit to start at centre-back despite coming off against Aston Villa with a hamstring complaint.

There were fears Botman’s season could be over after it was decided he required surgery on a knee issue that has kept him sidelined since the 2-0 Carabao Cup semi-final second leg win over Arsenal on February 5.

An initial assessment determined the Dutchman’s injury to be minor but around a month later went under the knife. Eight weeks on and Botman has resumed training at Benton this week.

Newcastle assistant coach Jason Tindall said last week that Botman is “ahead of schedule” and could be involved in the matchday squad against Ipswich. When providing an update at his Friday press conference, Eddie Howe said: “Sven's trained well this week and it's been great to see him back on the grass. So, yeah, really, really pleased with how he looked. It's still very early stages for him, but back training with the group, big step.”

Newcastle United’s confirmed starting XI vs Ipswich Town

NEWCASTLE UNITED XI: Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schär, Dan Burn, Tino Livramento, Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimarães (c), Joe Willock, Jacob Murphy, Harvey Barnes, Alexander Isak. SUBS: Martin Dúbravka, John Ruddy, Emil Krafth, Sven Botman, Sean Longstaff, Lewis Miley, Anthony Gordon, Callum Wilson, William Osula.