Steve Bruce has confirmed both Isaac Hayden and Matt Ritchie suffered soft tissue injuries during last night’s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.
The influential both left the field gingerly in the second half, suggesting they were withdrawn over injury concerns, and Steve Bruce has since confirmed that both will be assessed in the coming days to determine the damage done.
Here’s what Steve Bruce had to say about both after the game:
“We’ll have to see how we are [for Sunday].
“We hope some of the niggles are just a bit of fatigue but we’ll see how they are over the weekend.”
Lee Ryder has since suggested that Bruce took both off as ‘precautionary’ measures, suggesting they may yet make Sunday’s game, however they’ll surely be classed as major doubts for the Man City game if any small muscle injuries were picked up by either.
Considering how influential Hayden has been in front of that back four and the tenacity and drive Ritchie bring from wide areas, it would be a real shame if we have to go into this weekend’s cup quarter final without them.
We shall see, but these knocks were always likely after three months out – especially when Bruce played the same side twice in 4 days.
NUFC are safe – all fan’s are amazed as it’s been a complete shambles on the pitch and terrible to watch = more good luck than any sort of management!
KK(Quote)