Steve Bruce reveals if Newcastle duo Joelinton and Miguel Almiron will be fit for Watford

The South American pair missed last night's Carabao Cup exit to Leicester City on penalties after Bruce revealed on Tuesday as many as SIX players were a doubt for the second round tie.

However, with Fabian Schar starting, Jamal Lascelles and Christian Atsu on the bench, that left just Joelinton and Almiron absent from the matchday squad as well as Allan Saint-Maximin, who has already been ruled out for few weeks with a hamstring injury.

But the 58-year-old has eased fans' fears of being without a big chunk of their attack when the Hornets visit St James's Park, believing they will "okay".

“I hope so," said Bruce, speaking after the 4-2 penalty defeat last night. “I think Joelinton will be okay and Miggy will be okay but I couldn’t take that risk tonight.

"With what we’ve got, I could have been sitting here with worse (injuries).

“We’ll need our strikeforce, which will hopefully win us the game on Saturday.”

Indeed, despite making seven changes for the visit of Leicester, Bruce has further injury concerns with potential ankle ligament damage for Matt Ritchie and knocks for Jetro Willems and Emil Krafth.

United are waiting to see on the severity of Ritchie's injury after a challenge from Hamza Choundhury left the 29-year-old needing stitches in three different wounds. Bruce described the first half incident as a ‘horror’ tackle.

“It’s frustrating, really frustrating but we have to accept it and get on with it. It’s been cruel to us but there is nothing I can do.

“I won’t make excuses but I have to say it, with the problems that we had and the way we went about our work, I couldn’t have been more delighted, especially in the second-half.

“There was nothing in it, and I think that’s now Arsenal at home, Tottenham away and here today where defensively we have looked rock solid.”