Newcastle without a ‘chunk’ of players for West Brom match after Covid outbreak, says Steve Bruce

Two backroom staff members remain ill after last week’s coronavirus outbreak

Steve Bruce will be without several players for Newcastle’s Premier League clash with West Brom (Reuters)

Steve Bruce will be without “a big chunk” of first-team players for Newcastle United’s Premier League resumption this weekend due to their coronavirus outbreak.

The club was forced to close their training ground last week after suffering several positive Covid-19 cases, which resulted in the postponement of Friday’s Premier League encounter against Aston Villa.

Newcastle have been able to return to training this week ahead of Saturday’s match against West Bromwich Albion, but Bruce will have to go into the match with a depleted squad as he confirmed a number of players remain unavailable until Monday due to self-isolation rules.

"We've been able to re-open the training ground,” Bruce said on Friday. “People have been tested twice and come back negative. We've got enough to hopefully win us the match.

“We hope we've curtailed it - it certainly looks that way. We still have some individuals self-isolating.

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"It was a significant number of people in a tight-knit group and I’ve got two members of staff who are poorly and sick with it.

"We've got far more (players) than what we thought we would have last Monday. We've got enough to pick a team and we'll see how we go. The club has done everything they can for the welfare of the players and staff."

It’s understood that the number of positive cases at Newcastle reached double figures across players and backroom staff members, with their Darsley Park training base shut until the outbreak could be contained.

However, Bruce’s coaching team were able to implement a similar plan to the one they used during the first lockdown period earlier this year to ensure those players who had not tested positive for coronavirus were able to training at home and maintain their fitness levels, ensuring that they will be in the right condition to return to action this weekend.

"They've had their own individual programmes similar to when we went into lockdown,” Bruce added. “The fitness coach has been able to monitor them. We were back to full training on Wednesday and all of them bounced in having not played or trained. They enjoyed being back."

Bruce did not name the staff members who are suffering from symptoms, with the club keeping the identities of any players affected confidential.

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