Bruno Guimaraes provides Newcastle United fitness update ahead of Southampton semi-final

Just six days earlier, Guimaraes left the field in tears at half-time in Newcastle’s 1-0 win over Fulham at St James’s Park. The Brazilian left the ground on crutches and wearing a protective boot.

But after a positive scan on Monday and a return to training on Friday, the 25-year-old made himself available for the trip to Palace and kept his place in Eddie Howe’s starting line-up.

The goalless draw – Newcastle’s third against Palace this season – was a frustrating one for Guimaraes and his team-mates, but one that saw the side climb back up to third in the table and stretch their unbeaten run to a club record 15 matches.

“I think we deserved at least one goal,” Guimaraes admitted. “We controlled the game but we need to be crucial in front of the goal. We know how difficult it is to play here. We kept fighting but we should win this game.

“I’m a little bit disappointed, we could win this game but let’s keep positive. We’re 15 games [unbeaten].”

On his quick recovery from injury, he added: “I would like to say thank you to the medical staff, they did a brilliant job with me.

"I’m very proud to be here because it was a difficult week for me, I already had some injury from playing with Brazil and I was out for 21 days [earlier in the season]. When I got injured last game I thought I would be out for weeks so I thought it was very important for me to be back.

"To play 90 minutes, I take more confidence. I was afraid in the beginning but after that it was good. It wasn’t one of my best games but it was good to be back on the pitch.”

Despite the quick turnaround to Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup semi-final at Southampton, Guimaraes feels ‘good' and ready to play again.

“I feel good, I feel fit so let's think about the next game,” he told NUFC TV. “We now have the semi-final to look forward to so it was important to get some minutes today to be ready for the Southampton game.”