New injury “doesn’t look good” – Howe reveals fresh concern ahead of Man City & Burnley games

Harvey Barnes’ toe injury ‘does not look good’ says Eddie Howe after he is replaced 12 minutes into the 8-0 thrashing ofSheffield United.

Speaking after the game, Toon boss Howe said he ‘pushed off and felt something’ before being replaced by Anthony Gordon.

“I think it’s a toe problem,” Howe said. “I pushed off and I felt something in my toe. Early indications are there might be an injury, but we don’t know what it is yet.”

While Gordon’s arrival may have fired our attack to life last night, it is a real worry to see another left back go down with an injury, especially with Joelinton (knee) and Joe Willock (hamstring) already out for the next couple of games against Man City (twice) and Burnley (twice).

Losing the wing-back at this stage of the season would be a huge blow, especially as we look ahead to a busy midweek schedule with games in the league, the cup and Europe all coming up in the next few weeks.

Barnes was only given his second start of the season, so we can only hope that it’s not too serious, despite some worrying comments from Eddie Howe.

NEWS FLASH : Newcastle United early team news: £108m absence as 13 players ruled out & two doubts

Newcastle United will host Sheffield United this afternoon (4:30pm kick-off) as they seek to make it two in a row in the Premier League.

The Magpies are without £65m-rated midfielders Joelinton and Willock, with the latter expected to return before the international break. Joelinton has been out since May following a knee injury, while Willock has been on the sidelines since May.

The former Arsenal man was recovering from a hamstring injury but picked up a new Achilles earlier this month, and Howe said on Friday that he hoped Joelinton would return sooner, but “we’ll have to wait and see”.

Willock, on the other hand, is expected to be out until at least the international break after a midweek illness ruled him out of action.

On the other hand, Newcastle’s back-up keeper Martin Dubraveka is expected to be in the squad for the game, meaning he could make his first Premier League start this season.

Krafth returns to training after 12 months out with an ACL injury but is not yet ready to play.

John Egan returns to action for the Blades after a knock sustained on international duty with the Republic of Ireland. He missed last weekend’s 2-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur and is expected to play against Newcastle today.

Paul Hecking bottom confirmed Egan’s return to full-time training on Tuesday. “Egs is back,” he said. “We had a Sunday game last week, so he joined up with the boys on Tuesday, so he’s had a whole week to get back to full-time.”

Mean while, the Blades still have George Baldock, Will Osula and Jordan Amissah out of action with suspension and injury respectively. They are joined in attack by £43m rated striker Rhyri Brewster and wingers John Fleck and Ben Osborn.