Steve Bruce has confirmed that Jonjo Shelvey’s injury is not as bad as first feared, in what is another positive note for Newcastle after Sunday’s defeat.
As reported by the Shields Gazette, Bruce eased fears over the midfielder and with Norwich to come on Saturday, having the player available will be a huge boost for the Magpies.
Bruce will no doubt take a number of positives from the game on Sunday and easier games will certainly come. He’ll be hoping that Shelvey can go on to play a key role going forward.
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Shelvey’s substitution on Sunday was the catalyst that really saw things begin to fall apart from a Newcastle perspective.
Without the midfielder pulling the strings from deep, they very quickly lost their shape and any real purpose.
While Bruce made some attacking changes in the latter stages of the game, Newcastle never seriously looked like testing Arsenal’s backline as they looked to salvage a point.
Boasting a pass success rate of 74% against the Gunners, Shelvey once again proved himself to be one of Newcastle’s most creative players from midfield.
As we saw during their meeting with Liverpool, Norwich can be very open at times and their full-backs are given the freedom to roam forward. Shelvey’s pinpoint passing range could be the key to exploiting that on the break and getting a good result against the newly-promoted side.
