Newcastle United wasted a month of the summer transfer window putting all their eggs in one basket and it already may have come back to haunt them.
Marc Guehi had been touted as a done deal on several occasions throughout August but the reality was that Crystal Palace co-owner Steve Parish was merely toying with Newcastle for his own twisted form of revenge after Newcastle had unsettled his director of football, Dougie Freedman earlier in the summer.
Palace waited until deadline day to officially pull the plug on the deal leaving the Magpies with no time to secure an alternative.
Newcastle had already lost their right-sided centre-back in the opening game as Fabian Schar was shown a straight red card landing him with a three-match ban.
With no fit alternative, right-back Emil Krafth deputised for the former Switzerland international, admirably playing out of position and doing a good job of it.
But now, heading into the international break, Emil Krafth will not link up with Sweden after picking up a knock in the game against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
The 30-year-old had been called up for international duty, but will now stay behind and work on returning to full fitness at Newcastle.
Fortunately, Schar has now served his three-match ban so will be available for Eddie Howe on 15th September as Newcastle take on Wolves, but it could have been a whole lot worse.
This is a big warning shot. A sign of what could happen this season due to our inability to strengthen in key areas.
Krafth played the full 90 minutes of the game on Sunday, so we're hoping that the knock is nothing too serious and he'll be fit by the time the Premier League resumes.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
7 | 11 | 18 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
7 | 9 | 17 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
7 | 9 | 17 |
4 |
Chelsea
|
7 | 8 | 14 |
5 |
Aston Villa
|
7 | 3 | 14 |
6 |
Brighton
|
7 | 3 | 12 |
7 |
Newcastle United
|
7 | 1 | 12 |
8 |
Fulham
|
7 | 2 | 11 |
9 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
7 | 6 | 10 |
10 |
Nottingham Forest
|
7 | 1 | 10 |
11 |
Brentford
|
7 | 0 | 10 |
12 |
West Ham United
|
7 | -1 | 8 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
7 | -2 | 8 |
14 |
Manchester United
|
7 | -3 | 8 |
15 |
Leicester
|
7 | -3 | 6 |
16 |
Everton
|
7 | -8 | 5 |
17 |
Ipswich
|
7 | -8 | 4 |
18 |
Crystal Palace
|
7 | -5 | 3 |
19 |
Southampton
|
7 | -11 | 1 |
20 |
Wolves
|
7 | -12 | 1 |