The competitive nature of the second tier in English football has started to make a telling impact on the clubs. A handful of clubs, including Newcastle United, were in some sort of a mild crisis this past weekend as the dogfight for clinching a ticket to the Premier League is indeed taking a toll on the outfits.
Rafael Benitez’s side might be sitting at the summit of the league table and are prospective contenders for bagging an automatic qualification spot but in very little time, they could be thrown into the doldrums and doubts could start to hover over their promotion.
After a humiliating 1-3 loss at the hands of a high-flying Fulham side, the Geordies have to deal with the punch of not having DeAndre Yedlin for as many as five weeks. Yedlin picked up the knock in his side’s win over Brighton & Hove Albion on 1st March and his first diagnosis was fine. Despite that, Benitez was cautious while using him and only allowed him to come on from the bench against Huddersfield Town but looked quite uncomfortable while playing.
He wasn’t even on the bench when Benitez named his side against Reading as he was expected to miss a couple of weeks. However, it is now confirmed that the United States international has flown out to Los Angeles and is unlikely to return before the end of next month which leaves Newcastle in a pretty awkward position.
So far this campaign, Yedlin has made 23 appearances for the Magpies, scoring 1 goal, creating 26 chances and defensively speaking, he has registered 23 tackles with a success rate of 43%, made 14 interceptions, 97 clearances and 3 blocks in what was proving to be a very productive season for the 23-year-old full-back.
While Jesus Gamez might be seen as the replacement on the right-back slot, what Yedlin provides is arguably unmatchable by anyone else in Newcastle United’s ranks. Vurnon Anita was literally destroyed by Fulham youngster, Ryan Sessegnon, and a lot was left to be desired as Yedlin was not there to attack and defend. The result was, indeed, a catastrophic one.
The League Leaders are due to make a trip to St. Andrew’s this weekend and in the month of April, the games are scheduled to come thick and fast with as many as seven games slotted in the upcoming month. In a scenario like this, the former Tottenham Hotspur man’s injury wouldn’t be anything less than a curse which could be a damnation of their season-long pursuit of structuring a sense of salvation.
Statistics Credits: Squawka.
