Man City’s upcoming opponents Newcastle United rocked by injury blow

Newcastle United winger Harvey Barnes is expected to be out for ‘months rather than weeks’, according to his manager Eddie Howe. The Toon Army take on Manchester City in the Carabao Cup at St. James’ Park on Wednesday night.

They swooped to land Barnes over the summer from Leicester City following the Foxes’ relegation to the Championship. He has since made seven appearances for his new club in all competitions, chipping in with a single goal and single assist.

City’s upcoming opponents thrashed Sheffield United 8-0 at Bramall Lane last time out. However, that heavy win may have come at a cost for their recent recruit.

Howe has provided this injury update: “It’s an injury to part of his foot just below the toe. I think it’s quite a substantial injury.

“We’ve had it scanned and we’re waiting now for a specialist’s opinion on what to do next whether there is surgery involved or not. I don’t think it was a tackle, he was just pushing off to run. Very unusual injury. I won’t go too technical because I’m not medically qualified to do so but yeah, very unusual.

“I don’t want to put a time on it until I get confirmation from the specialist but we’re fearing it’ll be months rather than weeks.” He was down after the game because I think he knew it wasn’t your normal injury where you feel a muscle and think that might be one or two weeks.”

He added: “This was a slightly more complex issue and he probably feared the worst because there was no one around him. It was one of those mechanisms that he probably felt wasn’t quite right.

“I’ve got no doubt he’ll be disappointed because he was keen to show his worth and value and it was a really good opportunity on Sunday to do that. But whatever the injury is or however long it takes to get back, we’ll support him because we know he’s a top-quality player. He still has a massive part to play.”

City take on a Newcastle side who reached the final of the competition last term. However, they were beaten at Wembley by Manchester United.