Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez has confirmed that midfielders Jonjo Shelvey and Mohamed Diame will play no part against Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday.
The two players missed Saturday’s defeat to Chelsea through injury, and Benitez has said that neither man will be ready for the FA Cup replay.
“We have to assess them before the Cardiff game [on Saturday],” he said at his pre match press conference, as cited by the club’s official Twitter account.
“For this one [against Blackburn], they are 100 per cent not available,” he said. The Spaniard also confirmed that left back Paul Dummett and goalkeeper Karl Darlow have knocks as well.
RB on Jonjo Shelvey and Mo Diamé’s injuries: “We have to assess them before the Cardiff game. For this one (against Blackburn), they are 100 per cent not available.” #NUFC pic.twitter.com/sibS0xcd7l
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) January 14, 2019
OPINION
This is a blow for Newcastle, but an expected one. After Diame and Shelvey missed Saturday’s game it was always going to be unlikely that they would take the field against Blackburn even if they had miraculously recovered in time. Benitez has demonstrated that the FA Cup is not high on his list of priorities, so these two were never going to play on Tuesday. The bigger issue is whether they will be available to take on Cardiff on Saturday. The visit of the Bluebirds is absolutely crucial to Newcastle’s season, and so Benitez would obviously love to have his two most trusted central midfielders available. Hopefully they pass their assessments during the week and are fit to play, but this is an extremely worrying situation for Magpies supporters. Sean Longstaff excelled against Chelsea, but you don’t want to put too much pressure on the young man too soon, so here’s hoping Shelvey and Diame enjoy a speedy recovery this week.
