Newcastle United hit by fresh injury ‘concern’ following 1-1 draw with Chelsea

Newcastle came from behind once again as Nicolas Jackson’s early opener was cancelled out by Miguel Almiron on the stroke of half-time. Some fine saves from Nick Pope on his return from injury in the second half saw The Magpies make it two draws from two in the Premier League Summer Series.

Eddie Howe left out several first-team players from his matchday squad in order to provide as many players involved against Chelsea the chance to play a full 90 minutes.

“It was a good game, I thought a real challenge for us,” Howe said. “Chelsea are a very good team as we know and we tried to go with one 11 and tried to get them to go as long as we could, 90 minutes if possible and I thought the players did really well physically because it has been a hard week for them.

“They’ve had no real mental escape apart from the baseball, it’s been a lot of training, a lot of hard work and I think we came into the game slightly fatigued again today.

“We wouldn’t train as hard as we have for a Premier League game and I think that showed at times. Credit to the players, mentally we dug it out, we performed very well and I’m really pleased. 

“We were hoping to get 90 for as many as possible then towards the end I go with my gut and think ‘who do I need to protect?’. I’m speaking to my staff as well and you try and avoid injuries at that stage because that’s when the players are most at risk, hopefully we’ve judged it okay.” 

While most of Newcastle’s outfield starters played the majority of the match, defender Fabian Schar was withdrawn in the first half due to a suspected injury.

“I think he’s okay, he’s saying he’s got a tightness in his hamstring,” Howe told NUFC TV. “He doesn’t think he’s pulled any muscle but certainly a concern for us.”

The match also marked the return of Almiron to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, four-and-a-half years after leaving Atlanta United to join Newcastle. And fittingly, the Paraguayan got on the scoresheet with a now trademark finish into the bottom left corner following a through ball from Anthony Gordon.

“It was a brilliant moment for him,” Howe added. “It was a chance for him to say goodbye again to the supporters that love him.

“It was a great finish, a really good team move and Miggy picked a spot, found the corner.

“He’s in a good bit of form now with his second goal in pre-season. Again he’s a huge player for us so delighted to see him doing so well.”

Newcastle will remain at their Atlanta base before flying to New Jersey where they will wrap up their Premier League Summer Series against Brighton & Hove Albion. With two draws from two matches, The Magpies currently sit second bottom in the Premier League Summer Series table but still have a slim chance of winning the pre-season tournament if they were to beat Brighton by two clear goals, Chelsea draw with Fulham and Aston Villa lose to Brentford.