Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe was unable to say whether Alexander Isak will be fit for their Premier League finale against Everton after he missed their 1-0 defeat to Arsenal.
Isak was a surprise omission from the squad with a groin injury, and the absence of the man who has 27 goals in all competitions this season was keenly felt at Emirates Stadium.
Newcastle dominated the first half, but found David Raya in outstanding form in the Arsenal goal as he made five saves to keep the scores level.
Arsenal were much improved in the second half and Declan Rice’s stunning long-range effort settled the game, leaving Newcastle still needing a win over Everton on the final day next Sunday to be sure of Champions League football next season.
Newcastle will be expected to claim that victory, but their task will be harder if Isak is not involved, Callum Wilson having struggled to make an impact against Arsenal.
“He’s got a bit of swelling in a muscle in his groin. So we hope that he will be ok pretty quickly but we don’t know how he’ll be regarding next week,” Howe told BBC Sport about his star striker’s fitness.
“Obviously it’s a quick turnaround, so he’s only got seven days to get himself fit. Fingers crossed we can get there.”
Of Newcastle’s dip in performance after the interval, Howe added: “From our perspective we became a little bit too passive.
“We were a little bit sloppy on the ball in the beginning of that second half, where we’d been excellent on the ball before then.
“I think there’s stuff to learn from, but I do think you have spells like that away from home, but I think maybe we didn’t adapt quick enough.
“I think we have to take all the positives from that first-half performance, we looked strong, dangerous, we were a real counter-attacking threat in the game as well.
“I thought we defended pretty well. Nick [Pope] didn’t have a great deal to do in the game. Disappointed to lose always, feel we can do better, but it was a really strong performance.”
