Eddie Howe has reflected on a major blow for Newcastle United just moments after savoring victory against Leicester City.
Joelinton's late yellow card means he will be suspended for the trip to Ipswich Town next weekend after reaching the yellow card limit. Howe also confirmed that Nick Pope will miss the rest of 2024 after the results of his scan showed damage suffered against Brentford last weekend.
When asked about Joelinton's caution, Howe said: "It's bizarre how things work. I'm talking to him from the side, he's right in front of me and I'm saying 'Joey, don't get booked', and he's like 'don't worry I won't'. Two minutes later he gets booked. You just couldn't make it up.
"In some senses sometimes these things happen. I'm disappointed to lose him because he's a player we need in every away game but at least he can now play free and play his normal game."
Pope's absence means that Martin Dubravka - who had just one save to make against the Foxes - will be between the posts for the foreseeable future. Howe was asked the situation with Pope and said: "He saw the specialist and the feedback is that he's going to be out for around a month, so bad timing for us and for Nick because there are a lot of games in that four-week period. We hope that after that four weeks, he'll be in good enough condition to play.
"He injured himself just passing a ball against Brentford. It was really innocuous-looking, it was a left-footed pass, but his knee didn't feel particularly good afterwards, so that's the plan."