'Bizarre' - Newcastle United deny injury inquest after double blow to £41m duo

Newcastle United have been hit with a series of injury blows so far this season, but head coach Eddie Howe it's down to bad luck rather than anything else.

Newcastle lost Miguel Almiron to a hamstring injury last time out at AFC Bournemouth, extending the club's injury list to 10 players.

While injuries are often par for the course in football, the quantity and severity of the injuries are cause for concern for The Magpies. Almiron, Callum Wilson, Alexander Isak, Sven Botman, Matt Targett, Harvey Barnes, Elliot Anderson, Dan Burn, Jacob Murphy and Javier Manquillo are all currently sidelined.

Murphy, Targett and Burn are set to be out until 2024 while Isak has missed the last five matches and Barnes and Botman have missed the last 11 and counting. With Wilson and Anderson also set to miss matches after the international break, Newcastle's squad is significantly depleted to the point that Howe could name a competitive line-up of outfield players based on the players he has unavailable.

In addition to the injured players, midfielder Sandro Tonali has also been banned from playing until August 2024 for breaching Italian betting regulations.

Newcastle's fixture schedule has become more hectic this season as a result of playing Champions League football. Inside the opening three months of the campaign, United have already played 18 matches in all competitions.

Combined with Howe's intense play style and physical demands on his players, Newcastle's lengthy injury list will undoubtedly impact the side moving forward.

But when asked if the club would look into the injury situation as a whole in order to get to the bottom of it, Howe told The Gazette: "No, I think it's very unlucky, some of the injuries have been bizarre.

"Jacob Murphy's dislocation of his shoulder, Dan Burn landing on his back, there's nothing we can do about that, it's just the sheer number of games affecting our resources.

"If you get an injury you hope, in one or two weeks, you get the players back - this is a unique situation."

The Magpies will be hoping to have Isak back available following the international break while the likes of Barnes and Almiron could be back in contention by early December.