Newcastle are facing yet another injury concern with Callum Wilson forced off in their 2-0 Champions League defeat to Borussia Dortmund.
The Magpies’ hopes of making the Champions League knockout stages suffered another blow as goals from Niclas Fullkrug and Julian Brandt ensured they stay outside of the top two in the group.
Boss Eddie Howe is already having to contend with several injuries to big players including Aleksandar Isak, Sven Botman, Dan Burn, Jacob Murphy and Harvey Barnes, while Sandro Tonali is currently serving a suspension for betting offences.
Wilson was forced off at half-time with a tight hamstring and Howe says it is “too early to say” whether he will be a doubt for their clash with Bournemouth on Saturday, but admits the injury situation at the club has made things difficult.
“We’ve lost the ability to make certain decisions,” he said.
“I’m being forced to make certain decisions and pick certain teams.
“Anthony Gordon played 90 minutes against Arsenal and absolutely gave everything physically in that game.
“I think the turnaround for him was too quick to start the match so we wanted to use him as an impact player today but you’d like in a different set of circumstances to play maybe a different type of winger in that moment.
“But I’m not going to sit here and make excuses. That’s what we have.
“I think from our side, we weren’t far away tonight and I think that’s the thing to take because I think us at our very best, even with the number of players we have out, I think’s good enough.”
