Newcastle United injuries: Bruno Guimaraes made his return after over two months out with a hamstring injury.
The Magpies’ captain was a second-half substitute in the 2-1 defeat against Bournemouth at St James’ Park to mark his first appearance back following a nine-week hamstring injury absence.
Guimaraes suffered his injury in a 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur back in February, with the side winning two and losing four of the six Premier League matches he missed while also being knocked out of the FA Cup and Champions League.
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Another bad day for Newcastle United against Bournemouth
Newcastle made it five defeats in seven over the weekend with Marcus Tavernier giving the Cherries a first half lead. Guimaraes’ introduction helped stoke United’s fire in the second half as he played a role in William Osula’s equaliser.
The midfielder was challenged by his fellow countryman Evanilson as he attempted to play Osula in and the Bournemouth forward ended up inadvertently playing the Newcastle goalscorer through.
But the Cherries ended up having the last laugh as Adrien Truffert scored the winner with five minutes of normal time remaining. It leaves Newcastle sitting 14th in the table with five games left to play, and Howe still without a Premier League win against his former club in eight attempts.
Bruno Guimaraes reacts to Bournemouth defeat
Guimaraes took to Instagram following his return to action to post a statement.
It read: “So many emotions right now! I’m happy to be back after almost 10 weeks,” Guimaraes wrote on Instagram. “I want to thank everyone who was part of my recovery, without exception. I went through one of the most difficult moments of my career, but by the grace of God, I’m back and ready to go again.
“I’m sad about the moment we are currently going through at the club. I think that, for the first time in almost five years that we’ve been together, this has been the toughest period. The only way to get through a moment like this is to keep quiet and work even harder.
“I want to thank everyone for the messages of support during these 10 weeks. Without a doubt, your encouragement was essential in giving me the strength to recover as quickly as possible ”
NUFC’s Bruno Guimaraes boost
While it was a largely negative afternoon for his side, Howe highlighted the positive of seeing his captain back on the pitch after an extended spell on the sidelines.
“It was great to have him back and I think he could feel the supporters have missed him, we've missed him, the team has missed him,” Howe admitted.
“There's still a bit of rust in there for Bruno, he's been out a long time and big pitch spaces is what he needs now and I think he'll be better for that game.”
With a full week of training ahead of Newcastle’s next Premier League match, Guimaraes will be pushing to be back in the starting line-up for the first time since his previous trip to North London as the side face league leaders Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium (5:30pm kick-off) on Saturday.
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