Newcastle United star Joelinton could be missing for “weeks” after the Magpies learned the full extent of his knee injury.
It is expected that Joelinton will not return to the first-team picture until March, meaning he could be touch and go for the Carabao Cup final on the 15th. Joelinton had been spotted in a cast in the build-up to the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Arsenal and was subsequently ruled out of the 2-0 win at St James’ Park.
But that did not stop the midfielder enjoying his own party night as he sat in the dugout near fans and swirled a black and white scarf above his head when Anthony Gordon’s goal went in. Joelinton was also donning a Newcastle 95-97 shirt with Alan Shearer’s name on the back in a tribute to the legendary striker.
However, he will have to sit out of the FA Cup tie at Birmingham and could miss clashes with Man City, Nottingham Forest and Liverpool. Howe, speaking after the 4-0 aggregate rout against the Gunners, said: “We knew that we were missing Joe for a period of time. We had to change something.
“So we came up with a plan on Monday, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. We stuck to the plan and delivered. I think Joelinton will be out for weeks not months. It is not a serious injury but it is enough to make him miss the next few league games.”
Responding to the victory against Arsenal, Howe also reflected: “It was a great night for us. It was a tough game but tactically we were good. The intention was to be aggressive and sometimes when you do that it doesn’t always work. Today it did. I thought it helped to solidify our plan. We had to retreat at times but we were always in the game.”
And after switching to a five-man backline, Howe added: “The work [on the game plan] started on Monday, which is quick. The Champions League last year helped us to work on those two-day turnarounds. We do tweak things depending on the opposition.
“We felt we needed more height in the team, we wanted solidity at the back and we had to change in order to win the game.”
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