· 16 May 2025, 12:30
**We all know that Newcastle United have a brilliant starting XI with a couple of good options on the bench, but a slight bit of bad luck and the squad starts looking paper-thin.**
Since James Bunce's arrival along with Paul Mitchell, Newcastle have started to manage injuries far better, and as a result, we've not seen an injury crisis anything like what we saw last season.
Unfortunately, Bunce isn't a miracle worker, and there were always going to be injuries. And now it seems that at the most crucial time, Newcastle are facing a mini-injury crisis.
Eddie Howe has spoken about the availability of several big players ahead of the Arsenal game, and it doesn't look like any are due to return.
> [](https://twitter.com/NUFC/status/1923297367832612904)
Eddie Howe isn't expecting any absentees to return on Sunday
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We've already covered Sven Botman, but there were also three top players missing from the Chelsea game last week and it doesn't look like any of them are likely to be involved this weekend either.
Joelinton is still working hard on his recovery but Eddie Howe is still insistent that the Brazilian would be best off waiting until next season before making his return.
> "Yeah, he's working away behind the scenes. He's typical Joe, he's absolutely put his foot to the floor to try and get back fit because that's his nature."He wants to be involved, but he's not close yet, he's still working his way back.
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> "I think the biggest possibility is that we don't see him again this season, then we get him ready for next year."
Newcastle's thin squad makes any injury seem like a crisis
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Meanwhile, Joe Willock and Kieran Trippier also missed the Chelsea game and Howe seems happy to not rush either back for the weekend's visit to London.
> "Kieran, I don't think so for this weekend, But again, it's not a big injury - a very minor calf problem.
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> "Joe Willock, we'll again leave the door open for him, and I think there's a slight chance."
Eddie Howe then went on, in his press conference, to mention how the lack of squad depth plays a big part in making things look worse than perhaps they are.
> "We're light. January played a part in that as we lost two players from the squad. I think we've done really well this season to manage a small squad."I think our injury record this season has been been very good in part. We've managed to keep the majority of the players fit.
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> "You're always gonna get one or two injuries, but yeah, I think we're in the position with our squad where if you get, and sometimes that can happen, a run of injuries and it can look thin very quickly, so fingers crossed we can maintain our strength to the end."