'Not 100%' - Newcastle United hit by fresh £106m injury blow as key trio doubtful for Chelsea clash

Newcastle United suffered a double injury blow with Fabian Schar and Joelinton forced off during Saturday's 3-0 win over Fulham.

The pair were forced off in the first half of the match at St James' Park with the score at 0-0. Raul Jimenez was shown a straight red card for Fulham in the 22nd minute following a challenge on Sean Longstaff.

The Magpies ended up strolling to a 3-0 win in the second half with goals from Lewis Miley, Miguel Almiron and Dan Burn. But Newcastle's injury situation continues to hinder Howe.

“Obviously that is the negative," said the Newcastle head coach. "We don't think they're serious, but certainly to come off the pitch, they're short-term problems for us that we can't navigate easily at the moment.

 “We were thinking that possibly we were through the worst of our injury situation. Now it's reared its head again in a negative way, so let's just see where we are."

When asked about the specifics regarding the double injury blow, Howe added: "I think Fabby's is a glute problem, I don't think it's a hamstring, and Joey's possibly might be a hamstring."

The pair are doubts for Newcastle's trip to Chelsea in the Carabao Cup quarter-final on Tuesday night alongside Alexander Isak (8pm kick-off). Isak dropped out of the matchday squad after suffering a set-back with his groin issue that kept him out for five matches before the last international break.

"Alex isn’t doing too bad," Howe told The Gazette. "He’s been playing recently, but still isn’t 100% with a groin problem. We just felt today was probably the right time to take him out.

"He’s put himself on the pitch for us because Callum [Wilson] has not been fit, and he’s played a lot of minutes. But he’s not 100% fit, and I want to try to get him 100 per cent if physically possible. But with the further injuries we’ve had, I don’t know if that will be the case."

The Magpies were boosted by the return of Sven Botman after three months out injured while Burn and Sean Longstaff returned to the starting line-up following spells out with injury.

Newcastle currently have Elliot Anderson, Joe Willock, Jacob Murphy, Harvey Barnes, Nick Pope, Matt Targett, Javier Manquillo out injured with Sandro Tonali suspended.