'Big concern' - Newcastle United dealt fresh injury blow as £93m trio doubtful for Manchester City

Dan Burn was forced off early in the second half with a groin issue. It comes after Newcastle lost Sven Botman to a knee issue on Wednesday night and loaned Lloyd Kelly to Juventus earlier in the week.

And now Newcastle’s options are looking thin as Howe looks to manage his squad over a crucial run of fixtures building up to the Carabao Cup final next month.

“It seems that we're just going through a little spell where a lot of big efforts in games, we're just picking up one or two injuries, which is a real concern for us because we have such a small squad, as we've said all season,” Howe told The Gazette. “So we've got Sven [Botman] missing, Anthony [Gordon] was feeling his quad, so didn't travel.

“Then we've got Dan feeling his groin. So, yes, that's a big concern for us.”

Bruno Guimaraes and Callum Wilson also went off in the match in what were planned changes while Will Osula was withdrawn in stoppage time after taking a knock.

Will Anthony Gordon be back available against Manchester City?

Next up for Newcastle is a trip to Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday (3pm kick-off). But Gordon and Botman will be doubts for the game as things stand despite both injuries not being serious.

Burn is also a doubt though his injury is less clear while Jamaal Lascelles, Joelinton and Harvey Barnes remain out but are closing in on returns.

When asked if Gordon could be back available at City, Howe said: “We hope so. We've treated the cups the same for the past few years. Everyone that's fit we will take. So he's not here today, which means he's obviously got a problem.

“I don't know at this moment in time [about Burn]. Of course, we'd love him to be, but we don't know how serious Dan's injury is at the moment.

“So I was a reluctant starter of Dan tonight. I didn't want to take that risk with any of our players. But we played on Wednesday [against Arsenal] because we knew the physical cost of that game, but numbers dictated we had to.”