Report: Eddie Howe has made a crucial decision to help with Newcastle’s injury crisis

Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe is dealing with an injury crisis the likes of which he's never seen.

Eddie Howe is still a baby in managerial terms at just 45 years old, but after taking Bournemouth up through the leagues and then being sacked for not keeping them in the Premier League, then coming to Newcastle United who were nailed on for relegation, keeping them in the league and getting them into the Champions League the following season, he's seen a lot.

However, he's not experienced an injury crisis like the one facing him at Newcastle right now.

Eddie Howe will have 14 fewer players to pick from to face Chelsea next week

According to Premier Injuries, Howe has 14 players unavailable for the upcoming Premier League game against Chelsea. Sandro Tonali is banned and Lewis Hall is unable to face his parent club, but the rest are injuries, and of those only Alexander Isak has any chance of a return in time for the trip to Stamford Bridge, and even that's a long shot.

Gabriel Buoys via Getty Images

While only now are Newcastle picking up muscle issues from the congested fixture list, it's hard to point the finger at Howe. It's not like he's been overworking them in training resulting in injuries. The main issues are coming from freak occurrences and as a result, fitter players are having to play more games which in turn leads to the standard issues.

So now faced with an international break, where he has a few of his remaining fit players away on international duty, putting them at more risk, The Chronicle has reported that Eddie Howe has made the best decision he could given the circumstances and given those players who are staying home and are fully fit a week off.

Anthony Gordon and Paul Dummett are making the most of their break

A full week for their bodies to rest before Howe can put them through some training next week, something he's not really had much of an opportunity to do properly this season due to the number of games Newcastle have.

It seems like Anthony Gordon and Paul Dummett are making the most of their week off, teaming up with injured Harvey Barnes to play Fortnite into the small hours. Who can blame them?

Hopefully a week off will give them enough rest that they will be raring to go when they face Chelsea on Saturday 25th November.