Newcastle United club captain Jamaal Lascelles has been rocked by an unfortunate injury picked up at the club's training ground.
The skipper was not named in the squad for the 3-1 win over Southampton and a testing season for the long serving centre-back looks like it's come to an early end. Lascelles has started just two matches for Newcastle this term during defeats at Liverpool and Man City.
Lascelles picked up a calf injury working in the gym at Newcastle's Tyneside HQ and Eddie Howe fears his season could be over. That would be a major blow for Lascelles as it removes the prospect of any much-needed starts in the last few games of the campaign.
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If Champions League football is secured early, Howe would have had the option to hand some key squad members some game-time. Lascelles' loss could be Paul Dummett's gain though.
Dummett was stripped and ready for action for a cameo and win bonus against Southampton but was denied a run out as the ball didn't go out of play before Anthony Taylor blasted his final whistle.
Howe spoke of Lascelles' importance behind the scenes earlier this term and commented: "You don't come into that type of game and play well unless you're absolutely focused on your training day to day. He's led by example on training ground."
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