Joelinton has been pictured wearing a leg brace to hand Newcastle a huge injury worry ahead of the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final with Arsenal. The Magpies carry a 2-0 lead into the game at St James' Park thanks to goals from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon in the first leg in January. They come into the game on the back of two successive defeats at home. They were thrashed by Bournemouth two weeks ago, before throwing away a lead over Fulham on Saturday to slip to a 2-1 loss. That defeat at the hands of the Cottagers provided added concern for Toon boss Eddie Howe.

He saw Joelinton limp off after 64 minutes, with Joe Willock coming on to replace him. And new pictures of the Brazilian with his family have sparked concern for fans of the Magpies. Joelinton shared an image with his wife Thays Gondim and their son, with the caption: "8 years of our baby." But eagle-eyed fans have spotted the midfielder was wearing a brace on his right leg. The brace can be seen behind his son, who was standing in front of the Newcastle star for the picture. With previous injuries, a brace has been used as a precaution, with Howe conceding the star had been 'struggling' with the issue.

"Joelinton was suffering with a knee injury. That was a shame, but he was clearly struggling in that second half," Howe said after seeing his side lose to Fulham. Losing Joelinton would be a major blow for Newcastle with the 28-year-old having missed just one game this season in the Premier League. That came when he reached the yellow card limit and sat out of the 4-0 victory at Ipswich Town in December.

Willock, Lewis Miley and Sean Longstaff would be in contention to replace him against Arsenal. And Howe has demanded an improvement from his squad following the disappointing defeat to Fulham. "I don't think we played particularly well. We got ourselves ahead, we conceded a couple of poor goals, we never got full control of the game like we wanted to do. Very disappointing overall," he told Match of the Day.

"It's the second home game in a row where we haven't performed and that's a huge frustration for us. That's two back-to-back games where we have been nowhere near ourselves. We just have to hold our hands up and say we didn't perform. Athletically, we weren't ourselves and all these things contribute to a disappointing day. "I think the whole atmosphere and feeling will be very different on Wednesday night, but it's another reminder that we need to be near our best to win games. It's another example of the quality of Premier League teams.".

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