Dan Burn was taken to hospital for scans on a rib injury following Newcastle United’s derby defeat to Sunderland.
Burn was sent for medical checks after his 42nd-minute substitution at the Stadium of Light with Eddie Howe telling reporters the centre-half was “struggling to breathe at half-time.”
Burn was injured when he and Nordi Mukiele both slid in for a challenge during Sunderland’s 1-0 victory. Mukiele’s knee appeared to make contact with Burn’s chest and although the England international initially played on after treatment, he went down again and was then replaced. Mukiele, the defender, was booked.
In a television interview with Sky Sports, Howe said “hopefully (Burn) will be OK,” but he also described it as “a real problem,” in his official press conference.
With Newcastle facing Fulham in a Carabao Cup quarter-final on Wednesday, Burn’s absence, if confirmed, would represent a blow. Sven Botman, the team’s other left-sided central defender, has not started a match since the 3-1 defeat at Brentford on November 9 and has been struggling with a back problem.
Burn’s premature departure was not the only negative on a day which Howe described as “very painful.”
Newcastle were disappointing against their local rivals, losing the first league derby since 2016 to a freakish own-goal by Nick Woltemade. Howe apologised for it afterwards.
“That is going to sting for a long time,” Howe said. “We know our performance was off what we needed it to be. We defended pretty well, there were very few chances for both teams but the one big moment went against us. It was a bizarre goal to concede.
“Criticism comes with every defeat but this one will be louder and stronger because of the importance of the game. Sorry for the performance, really, in the lack of goalmouth action, the lack of clinical attacking we’ve tried to pride ourselves on.”
