Newcastle are set to be without captain Bruno Guimaraes for two months due to injury as Eddie Howe’s woes continue to mount.
The Brazilian has been plagued by injury in recent times and hobbled off in the closing stages of Tuesday night’s win against Tottenham with a hamstring problem, curtailing what was just his second appearance since recovering from a separate ankle issue.
Howe said in his press conference on Friday that the club were still waiting to learn the “full extent” of Guimaraes’ injury but had previously admitted that he was “a little bit worried because he has never had a problem with his hamstrings before”.
It has now been widely reported that Guimaraes will be out for an extended period of time, with a timeline of around eight weeks put on his absence.
It acts as a huge blow to the Magpies’ bid to turn their season around, with the club currently sat 10th in the Premier League after a run of one win in five games.
The detriment of Guimaraes’ absence has been clear to see whenever the Brazilian is missing from Howe’s team, with Newcastle failing to win any of the 10 league matches in which he has not featured since his debut in February 2022.
By contrast, Newcastle have a 53.1 percent win ratio with Guimaraes in the side in the English top flight, though his involvement was unable to stop the rot against Brentford last weekend, which saw the Bees nab a late win on Tyneside.
Newcastle got back to winning ways in midweek but now face to task of stringing together results, starting with Saturday afternoon’s FA Cup fourth-round clash with Aston Villa.
Without his skipper, Howe goes to Villa Park with just three senior central midfielders available in the form of Sandro Tonali, Joe Willock and Jacob Ramsey.
Guimaraes’ countryman Joelinton is on the verge of a return from a groin problem, however, and Lewis Miley is not expected to be sidelined for long after suffering a dead leg.
