Will Osula holds off Jeremy Jacquet during Newcastle United's 2-2 draw with Liverpool (Image: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)
Will Osula holds off Jeremy Jacquet during Newcastle United's 2-2 draw with Liverpool (Image: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)
WILL OSULA is showing positive signs in the wake of yesterday’s injury against Liverpool, with Matthias Jaissle reasonably confident that the striker has not suffered a serious setback.
Osula was involved in an early collision with Virgil van Dijk that left him wincing in pain and restricted his mobility for much of the first half of Newcastle’s 2-2 draw at St James’ Park.
He remained on the pitch at the start of the second half, and made a couple of rapid bursts towards the Liverpool goal, but after a conversation with the bench, he was withdrawn in the 55th minute and replaced by Joe Willock, who scored Newcastle’s second goal less than two minutes later.
It appeared as though Osula had suffered a dead leg rather than any serious muscular damage, and while the striker will be closely assessed by the Magpies’ medical staff and is likely to miss Wednesday’s Carabao Cup second-round game with West Brom, Jaissle is hoping he will not be sidelined for long.
“With Will, we need to see,” said the Newcastle boss. “Hopefully, it is not that serious and he can be back as soon as possible. That is the hope. For now, it looks quite positive, but we need to see and check him later.”
The news on Dan Burn is less positive, with the recently-appointed club captain set to be unavailable for at least a fortnight and potentially up to a month.
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Burn suffered an ankle injury in training last week and arrived at St James’ Park yesterday on crutches, with his foot in a protective boot. He will definitely miss the West Brom cup game and the forthcoming league matches against Tottenham and Bournemouth, and could also be forced to sit out the following games against Leeds United and Hull City.
“With Dan, it is clear that he will be out for a couple of weeks,” confirmed Jaissle. “How long exactly, that will be decided as things progress. We are not quite sure right now. Our medical department is excellent, so he will be back again on the grass as fast as possible.”
As well as being without Burn, who was named as Bruno Guimaraes’ successor as captain earlier this month, Jaissle also finds himself deprived of the services of his new vice-captain Joelinton.
The Brazilian was ruled out of the season-opener against Liverpool because of an unspecified injury issue that Jaissle described as needing “a couple of weeks” to heal at a press conference last week.
“It’s tough if you are missing your two captains,” said the Newcastle boss, in the wake of the Liverpool draw. “Hopefully, they will come back as soon as possible. We said that if there is a vacuum, other players need to step in. It is amazing to see the young lads all taking responsibility. It was top, really top. It’s something special for the start, and I’m really proud.”