Newcastle Move Second Top Of The Premier League (Injury) Table
Last season’s flirtation with relegation was largely put down to the number of injuries Newcastle players suffered.
This season you might be surprised to find that United are actually second top of the injury league at the minute, with seven players unavailable this weekend.
Thanks to the excellent physioroom.com website here are the 20 Premiership clubs and their respective number of injuries.
9 Crystal Palace
7 Newcastle, Arsenal
6 Fulham, Mackems, Spurs, West Brom
5 Liverpool, West Ham
4 Everton, Cardiff, Hull, Man City, Man Utd, Swansea, Stoke
2 Villa, Southampton, Norwich
1 Chelsea
Newcastle’s joint second place is ‘thanks’ to the following being unavailable against Hull City this weekend, expected return dates in brackets where anticipated;
Steven Taylor (19 Oct), Ryan Taylor, Gabriel Obertan, Shola Ameobi (5 Oct), Mike Williamson, Jonas Gutierrez (30 Sept), Massadio Haidara
There wasn’t much transfer activity in the summer but the arrival of performance and conditioning coach Faye Downey was heralded as a major advance in tackling the number of injuries but it appears she hasn’t waved the magic sponge yet.
No disrespect to those seven who are currently missing but I don’t think many fans would currently put any of them ahead of last week’s, and likely to be this weekend’s, starting eleven. Whereas Hull only have 4 players missing but at least three of them are usually first eleven starters.
So while we may be unlucky with the volume of injuries, for most supporters we are just counting our blessings that they haven’t struck in key positions, such as that one who starts with Hatem and ends in Arfa.
Top Tips v Hull – NUFC Score Both Halves 9/5 – Cisse Score A Goal 15/8 – NUFC Win 3-0 17/1
To see all betting odds click HERE
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