Neil Warnock lifts lid on injury problems at Newcastle United

Warnock’s Middlesbrough side beat Newcastle 5-1 Rockliffe Park on Tuesday, and a rematch on Tyneside has been cancelled.

Bruce has “about seven injuries” ahead of Saturday’s behind-closed-doors friendly against Stoke City at St James’s Park, according to Warnock,

“We just both decided that we’d had enough,” said Warnock. “That game was a really competitive game. We were going to do the Under-23s, and give the players who haven’t had many minutes a run-out against their first team. But poor old Steve has got about seven injuries, I think, now for the Stoke City game, so it’s just not worth the risk of getting any more injuries.”

Bruce has lost Dwight Gayle and Martin Dubravka to long-term injuries, and a number of players also missed yesterday’s training session. Joelinton and Yoshinori Muto are back in training.