Newcastle United will have Andy Carroll back soon.
Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce has told the Daily Mail that Andy Carroll should return to face Arsenal later this month.
The Magpies posted a blank against League One side Oxford United in the FA Cup last month, and fans were hoping for better against Norwich City on Saturday.
However, it was another goalless draw for Newcastle, with goals a little hard to come by for the Magpies right now – which isn’t a big surprise.
Allan Saint-Maximin has been thrown back in after injury, meaning he’s still shaking off some cobwebs, whilst Miguel Almiron and Joelinton are clearly exhausted after such a big workload this season.
Newcastle failed to bring in attacking signings in January, meaning Bruce doesn’t even many options to change his front line right now.
Joelinton’s main competition would be Carroll, but the target man is out injured right now, and hasn’t played since the 14th of January.
Bruce has now been asked whether he thinks the Carroll gamble has failed given his lack of playing time, but the Newcastle boss suggested that the side’s attacking woes can’t be blamed on Carroll’s absence.
Bruce added that it’s not his ankle playing up now, it’s his hip, but he should return against Arsenal on February 16th, meaning he will miss tonight’s FA Cup replay with Oxford.
“Look, you can’t just blame it on Andy, his ankle is all right, but he has a hip problem. He should be fine for our next game at Arsenal,” said Bruce.
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