Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez has provided an injury update on the trio of Jamaal Lascelles, Yoshinori Muto and Jonjo Shelvey.
During the first half of the 1-0 win over Watford on Saturday, Japan international Muto sustained a muscle injury for his efforts, while Lascelles came off at half time due to problems with his shoulder.
Shelvey was replaced early in the second half by Ki Sung-Yueng, but it is not believed that he came off for anything major.
“There are a couple of muscle problems with Shelvey and Muto. We will see what is going on. Jamaal had a little problem with his shoulder in a training session the other day, but we will have to wait a little bit and see how they are,” he said, as quoted by the Chronicle.
“For Muto, it was the calf, but still it’s too early to know what he has.”
OPINION
Benitez would have no doubt been gutted that he had to take off three of his key players so early on into this clash with Watford. Even though their absences did not make an impact on the overall result, the fact that they came off due to injury concerns must be rather worrying. This victory has obviously kickstarted Newcastle’s campaign, but it has been somewhat tainted following these substitutions. Benitez says he does not yet know the full extent of the problems sustained by Shelvey and Muto, as well as Lascelles – but by the looks of things, they were not that serious so it would be a surprise if they were not involved next week. However, seeming as Ki came on for Shelvey and was pivotal in creating the goal that won the game for the Magpies, it cannot have been that bad. However, Benitez has every right to be in high spirits following this victory, even if he is still waiting to find out the full extent of the trio’s injuries.
