‘Didn’t look right’ - Joe Willock injury update as Newcastle United suffer fresh blow against Fulham

Newcastle United continued their unbeaten run since the international break, but lost midfielder Joe Willock to injury before half-time. The former Arsenal man returned to the starting XI at Craven Cottage after starting their draw against Everton in midweek on the bench.

However, Willock lasted just 40 minutes before being replaced by Elliot Anderson after a seemingly innocuous incident. Willock went down holding his leg and after a brief stoppage was replaced - adding yet more injury woe.

Speaking about Willock, Howe said: “Joe is still feeling his achilles. He’s been feeling this problem for a long time. We hoped that he would steadily improve but today was a down day where he didn’t look right and wasn’t able to continue. He wasn’t particularly in huge pain but it was enough to mean he wasn’t at his very best.

“When we made the change with Elliot coming on, I thought he did very well and the subs that came on late did very well to get us over the line and it was a huge performance from the players.”

After losing Willock, the Magpies were able to rally and went into the break goalless with their hosts - despite giving up a number of opportunities to the hosts. However, they put in a better second half display and were able to secure a win thanks to Bruno Guimaraes’ strike ten minutes from time.

The win leaves Newcastle in 8th place following West Ham’s controversial win over Wolves at Molineux on Saturday afternoon.