Newcastle United parted ways with Rafa Benitez this summer and appointed Steve Bruce as their new manager for the upcoming season. And his first job will be to stop Arsenal at home this weekend.
During the summer, the Magpies have released Diame while selling off Joselu and Ayoze Perez and Steve Bruce has also managed to bring in a handful of big signings.
But this amount to absolutely nothing as most of the new boys are could miss out when Arsenal come to town this Sunday.
The manager has made it clear that the likes of Emil Krafth and Willems have just started training with the squad hinting that they might not be starting the match.
“Krafth hasn’t even trained with us,” the new Magpies manager added.
“The other boys (Willems and Saint-Maximin) only arrived last Friday. We’ve been working on how we’re going to play for this game.
“We’re got one or two little injuries, but there’s nothing really to report.”
And this is not the only blow for the Magpies boss since Yedlin is also set to miss out during the season opener.
The defender underwent a groin surgery during the summer and he is yet to make a full recovering meaning he will not be named in the matchday squad.
Bruce said(as reported): “DeAndre Yedlin has had an operation and hasn’t recovered, so it became clear that we needed cover in that area.
“He (Krafth) will certainly give us that.
“He’s an experienced player who has been on the radar for some time.
“He’ll bring us the experience and know-how that any team needs.”
Newcastle United paid around €44 million to bring in 22-year-old centre-forward Joelinton from Hoffenheim and he will surely start upfront while Andy Carroll could be brought in some time late in the second half.
UPDATE ON MATT RITCHIE:
Winger/midfielder Matt Ritchie remained a major doubt for the clash vs Arsenal as he was facing a race against time to recover from a hamstring injury.
Matt Richie picked up the injury in the pre-season victory at Hibernian which forced him to miss last weekend’s final friendly against St Etienne.
And there were reports that 29-year-old might not be fit before the season opener.
But now it looks like Matt Ritchie will finally get to play on Sunday after he was able to train with the first-team squad on Friday.
This means he will be available for selection this weekend when Arsenal come to St James’ Park and should be deployed down the flanks – playing as a wing-back.
