Newcastle United to make injury surgery call as £98m duo ruled out for Man Utd & Arsenal

Newcastle head into Saturday’s Premier League match at Wolverhampton Wanderers (5:30pm kick-off) without Sven Botman (knee), Harvey Barnes (foot), Lewis Miley (illness) and Elliot Anderson (back) for the trip while Jacob Murphy (shoulder) and Alexander Isak (groin) as also likely to miss the match as they face further assessment on injuries picked up against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.

There is uncertainty surrounding Murphy after the 28-year-old dislocated his shoulder and could face an extended spell on the sidelines should he require surgery.

It is understood Isak could be out until after the next international break but Howe was quick to play down any serious concerns regarding the player.

“Very different injuries,” The Magpies’ boss said when asked about Isak and Murphy. “Alex is a groin [injury] which we don't think is serious but it's a recurrence of the groin he suffered with Sweden so he's having a scan [Friday] but we don't anticipate it's anything too bad.

“Jacob's is totally different with a dislocation of his shoulder. It's not clear what we're going to do, he'll see a specialist today. He can play with these injuries or the other side of it is he needs an operation and could be out for some time.”

Sven Botman hasn’t featured for Newcastle since the 8-0 win at Sheffield United in September which saw him score his first goal for the club. The Dutch defender will be hoping to be back involved before the international break in two week’s time while Anderson battles to be back before the turn of the year.  

“Sven is improving, he's out on the grass but hasn't trained with us yet,” Howe added in his pre-match press conference. “Hopefully we can get him back pretty quickly but we have to be careful with the injury he's got.

“Elliot looks like he's going to be out for around eight weeks with a back problem, quite a bizarre injury.”

Newcastle also have pending issues in midfield with Sandro Tonali’s 10-month ban awaiting ratification and Bruno Guimaraes just one yellow card away from a one-match suspension.