A game against Arsenal is never going to be easy, but tough clashes like that are made a whole lot more difficult when key players are missing. Fortunately, with Newcastle set to take on the Gunners on Monday, Rafael Benitez has delivered some good news on the injury front.
RB: “The international break is always quite complicated for us, especially at this stage of the season. A lot of the national teams are playing for something and we have some knocks and little things, but Sean Longstaff is the only player injured at the moment.” #NUFC
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) March 29, 2019
Of course, we’re on the back of an international break, and the succession of games, training and travel can have an impact on the fitness of certain squad members.
It appears as though we’ve been lucky and avoided any issues, though, which is great news for us.
Our Verdict
We aren’t exactly blessed with quality, and so one or two major injuries could make life tough for us. With Longstaff injured, we’ve lost a significant member of our midfield, and so we can’t afford to lose anyone else.
Fortunately, that doesn’t appear to have happened, and so we’ll hopefully be able to go into our game with Arsenal at near enough full strength.
That may well give Rafa a few selection headaches, as a number of players are doing very well at the moment, but that’s a good problem to have.
A good result will put us even closer to guaranteeing our Premier League safety.
Thoughts?