Newcastle United injury ‘worry’, Yankuba Minteh confusion & Eddie Howe’s fresh £43m selection dilemma

Although it wasn’t the full three points they headed down to the south coast in anticipation of, sealing a point at a stadium where they have a terrible record could, in hindsight, prove to be a valuable one when the curtain is brought down on the season in less than three week’s time. Alexander Isak’s late penalty canceled out Yankuba Minteh’s opener on an afternoon where VAR dominated.

The technology, and uses of it on Sunday, will be analysed throughout this week as they prepare for a huge clash with Chelsea at St James’ Park this weekend. Here, though, we take a look at five non-technology based things of note from Newcastle United’s draw with Brighton:

Minteh’s moment of mystery

It was written in the stars for Minteh to score against his former club - again. Having netted at St James’ park in March, the young Gambian repeated the feat on Sunday, although this time with a huge slice of fortune from Dan Burn.

However, it was his celebration which caused much discussion. On Tyneside, Minteh opted for a muted celebration, one that saw his teammates rally around him before they headed back to the centre-circle.

And it appeared that he was set to do a similar one this time, but seemed a lot more animated in his movements with his teammates determined to move him away from the away end. Danny Welbeck in particular, who spent time on-loan at the Stadium of Light and has recently spoken about his love for Sunderland, encouraged his teammate to celebrate on Sunday.

It was a very weird few moments and a celebration that no one but Minteh will truly understand the intentions of. Speaking post-match about the goal, Howe revealed he was ‘disappointed’ that the winger was able to turn and get a shot away: “The second time he's done it to us this season,” United’s head coach said.

“To a degree, you always know that that's a potential worry for you when you go into the game, just because of his qualities. We knew all about his left foot, we've worked on that.

“Sometimes you can work on it and it can still come to harm with it. We're disappointed with the goal because we should have done better.”

Joelinton’s absence and a disjointed engine room

Newcastle knew in the build-up to their trip south that they would be without the Brazilian in midfield. However, unlike last weekend against Ipswich Town, this time they were coming up against a very good and organised Premier League midfield, one that capitalised on the Brazilian’s absence.

Joe Willock ran with the ball well at times, but it was clear throughout that they missed Joelinton’s physicality, whilst Sandro Tonali also had a day to forget at the Amex Stadium. None of Willock, Tonali or Bruno Guimaraes would say they had one of their better performances on Sunday, and that is a slight worry heading into next weekend’s game - their biggest of the league campaign to date.

Chelsea’s midfield has been transformed in recent weeks thanks to the return of Romeo Lavia, whilst Cole Palmer’s licence to ram free between the lines must be something that is picked up and dealt with by the engine room. Sunday could be a very good day on Tyneside - but the midfield three will have to do better than they managed at the Amex Stadium if that promise is delivered on.

Gordon’s gamechanging impact

Surprisingly, Howe opted not to make changes at the break and instead waited ten minutes before introducing Anthony Gordon to proceedings. The former Everton man immediately made his mark by earning his side a penalty, although that was eventually overturned by VAR.

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Whilst that was to be the peak of his performance, it was obvious that the Brighton defence, and Tariq Lamptey in particular, were visibly worried about Gordon’s pace and direct running. Although his introduction meant Harvey Barnes had to swap to the opposite flank, they did still enjoy some success down the right, with Barnes seeing an effort saved by Bart Verbruggen and setting up Callum Wilson for his late effort - one that was again stopped by the Dutchman.

Gordon and Barnes haven’t started too many Premier League matches together, but it is something that Howe has trialled in big games before, most notably against Tottenham Hotspur in April last year - a match the Magpies won 4-0 to significantly increase their hopes of a European spot. If Howe wants his side to blow the Blues away on Sunday, then a front three of Barnes, Gordon and Isak wouldn’t be a bad option.

Fabian Schar worry

As a point was being rescued late on, Fabian Schar was quietly withdrawn from proceedings. The former Swiss international was replaced by Sven Botman with Howe admitting post-match that he wasn’t too sure on the severity of Schar’s injury.

“Fabi was limping, I don't know whether that's cramp or a muscle issue, so I'd need to check,” Howe said of the defender.

Schar also ended the defeat against Villa and the win over Ipswich on the substitutes bench in a trend that may be a growing concern ahead of their final three matches of the season. Botman is, of course, a very good alternative to have but the Magpies will be cautious about overloading his gametime.

Starting either player against Chelsea comes with obvious risks and rewards and will undoubtedly be something Howe is thinking about all week before he names his team at 10:45am on Sunday morning.

Liverpool lose - Forest tonight

As fans filtered out of the Amex Stadium and back on buses and trains to take them to the north east, news of Chelsea taking a very early lead against Liverpool would have been filtering through. Many of those supporters wouldn’t have even made it past the capital before Chelsea’s victory had been confirmed and the importance of Sunday’s game doubled in magnitude.

Now all attention turns towards Selhurst Park tonight to see if Crystal Palace can, like Brentford on Thursday, do them a favour against Nottingham Forest. A win for the hosts would leave Forest three points behind Newcastle in the table, but a victory for the Tricky Trees would see them move level on points.

Currently, four points separate third-placed Man City and 7th placed Aston Villa with two of the teams in that pack knowing they will miss out on Champions League football. Palace could do four of those sides a huge favour tonight.

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