Eddie Howe expressed his concern after Anthony Gordon sustained a knee injury during Newcastle’s 3-2 defeat at Chelsea.
Gordon, who has contributed 10 goals and five assists across all competitions this season, has been one of Newcastle’s standout performers and is being considered for an England call-up ahead of Euro 2024.
With Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate present at Stamford Bridge, Gordon was forced off the pitch after just 36 minutes. Howe appeared downbeat when asked about the 23-year-old’s condition and did not provide much optimism regarding his injury.
He said: “It was strange. There was no mechanism or moment when he felt it, it was just there in the game.
“According to Anthony at half-time, he was in quite a bit of pain. We don’t quite know how bad that is yet.
“I think it was quite early in the game but there was no moment where he felt the injury, just a pain was there.
“So we sent someone over because he didn’t look like he was moving right. And then eventually he succumbed to the injury.
“He’s in a bit of pain but it’s not looking too good. We’ll wait and see.
“It was a huge moment to lose him, given what he has done this season. It was a psychological blow.”
After Alexander Isak cancelled out Nicolas Jackson’s early strike just before half-time to level the score, the Blues began to dominate proceedings in the second half. Goals from Cole Palmer and Mykhailo Mudryk sealed the three points for Chelsea, despite Jacob Murphy’s spectacular consolation goal.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe, 46, accepted that his side could have no complaints about their seventh loss in nine Premier League away outings, conceding 24 goals in that run.
He added: “It’s a similar feeling over the last few months on the road.
“We know with the quality of players to defend better than that. It was not a bad performance, just inconsistent at times.
“There’s promise that we can hit the heights but we’re not doing it enough.”