OPINION
Newcastle United will be looking to secure another win when they play Bournemouth on Saturday at St James Park but they may have to do without out some of their usual stars.
The Chronicle reported on Tuesday that midfielder Jonjo Shelvey, defender Jamaal Lascelles and attacker Yoshinori Muto were all concerns ahead of Saturday’s clash after the trio all had to be subbed due to sustaining injuries in the 1-0 victory over Watford.
While Shelvey and Lascelles are regular fixtures of Rafa Benitez’s side due to generally having consistently delivered the goods for their side’s in recent times, it’s the potential loss of Muto for the clash with the Cherries which deals the Magpies boss a painful headache.
Ki Sung-yueng wowed against Watford when coming on to replace Shelvey and should be able to impress again if he has to start against Eddie Howe’s side if his teammate is stuck on the sidelines.
This means Shelvey’s absence shouldn’t stop the Magpies getting all three points.
The same should be said for Lascelles if he ends up missing Saturday’s clash as Fabian Schar proved himself to be a worthy replace for the Magpies captain as he dazzled when unleashed against Watford.
Yet there’s no obvious player who offers the same threat as Muto if the Japanese forward ends up being ruled out.
The 5ft 10in tall player (Source: Transfermarkt) is a livewire who looks to make things happen and he has been a bright spark since Benitez started to utilise him properly.
While some may claim Ayoze Perez can do the same job as Muto the Spanish attacker hasn’t been in stellar form, to say the least, all season even though he scored the winning goal against the Hornets.
For this reason the potential absence of Muto deals Benitez a painful headache as there is no suitable solution and it will no doubt cause the manager to lose sleep over worrying about whether the 26-year-old would be fit enough to play.
However hopefully Muto is deemed fit as while the Magpies can cope without Lascelles and Shelvey, they may struggle to get a good result against Bournemouth without their summer recruit to call upon.
