Newcastle United first team duo Jonjo Shelvey and Jamaal Lascelles were both absent from training on Thursday despite hopes they would have recovered from their injury layoffs, according to the Chronicle.
The newspaper claims that neither man was present as the first team squad prepared for the trip to Burnley on Monday, having originally been injured in the win over Watford earlier this month.
Both players missed the subsequent victory over Bournemouth, but hopes that they would have recovered during the international break now appear misguided.
Midfielder Ki Sung-yueng and defender Fabian Schar have filled in extremely capably for the crocked duo during the last game and a half and will be expected to do the same on Monday.
OPINION
There aren’t many more important players in this Newcastle team than Shelvey and Lascelles. The former is the midfield general and the one player capable of dictating play in this Magpies side, while the latter is the captain and leader of the team’s backline. However, their absence over the last game and a half has allowed manager Rafael Benitez to demonstrate the somewhat surprising strength in depth that he has in his squad. Ki and Schar have both been superb in relief of the injured duo, with the South Korean international assisting Ayoze Perez’s winner against the Hornets off the bench. Schar has looked like the established Switzerland international Newcastle fans were expecting to see in recent weeks, forming a solid partnership with fellow summer recruit Federico Fernandez. While it’s obviously a bad thing that Shelvey and Lascelles don’t appear likely to feature on Monday night, the emergence of Ki and Schar makes their absence a little easier to take.
