Newcastle’s Andy Carroll will not be lining up against Arsenal on Sunday and the Magpies have no clue what the problem is or when he will return.
Now 31, injuries have dogged Carroll’s career but five goals in eight appearances against Arsenal, his absence is welcome. That being said, you don’t like to see a player’s career go like this.
Carroll has managed just 508 league minutes this season for Steve Bruce and while he did return over the Christmas period, Bruce admitted that the forward won’t be available for the game against Arsenal.
“We haven’t been able to get a diagnosis for him which is a frustration,” Bruce said ahead of the game.
“The big problem we’ve got is that Andy’s still not right, so that’s a concern for us going forward. We expected him to be OK but unfortunately he’s not. Thankfully it’s not his ankle, but with this hip, hip flexor or whatever it is, he gets to a certain level in his rehabilitation and he’s still not quite right. We just have to keep monitoring him and see how he is.
“It’s a big frustration. There was a time just before Christmas when we were looking and he’d made a few assists and started a few games, and that’s exactly why we brought him into the club. And unfortunately he’s picked up this injury, which has drifted into five or six weeks when we expected it to be ten days. I’m sure he’s as frustrated as we all are, but unfortunately he’s got to try and get fit and hopefully be ready in a couple of weeks or whenever it will be. We’re not putting a timescale on it; it’s just the way it is.”
Newcastle will welcome back Joelinton to the squad after his injury turned out to be less severe than first feared while Dwight Gayle and Yoshinori Muto both face tests ahead of the game.
“It was a knock. There was no fracture, so he’s OK,” Bruce said of Joelinton. (There were) four, five or six days off for him and (Miguel) Almirón – the ones who have been at the pump constantly; they needed a break more than anybody. They’ve come back and they’ve been OK.
“We’re just going to assess whether it’s a little bit early for Muto and Dwight. They’re training, of course.”
Get Arsenal’s team news ahead of the match here.