NEWCASTLE UNITED will discover the full extent of Callum Wilson’s injury issues within the next couple of days, amid fears the striker could be sidelined well beyond the end of the international break.

Wilson appeared to damage his hamstrings during Friday night’s 2-0 defeat at Southampton, forcing his substitution during the second half at St Mary’s.

He is set to have a series of scans that will reveal the extent of the damage, but it is feared Newcastle’s top scorer could be forced to sit out much of the rest of the year.

The international break means the Magpies do not return to action until the host Chelsea on November 21, but a packed December schedule means they are due to play eight more league games before the turn of the year as well as a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Brentford.

It would clearly be a huge blow if Wilson was unavailable for a majority of those games, with the former Bournemouth striker having scored six goals in eight league matches since his summer move from the Vitality Stadium.

In his absence, Bruce would have to turn to either Andy Carroll or Joelinton to lead the line, neither of whom have scored a Premier League goal this season and both of whom have struggled to justify their place in the starting line-up in recent weeks.

“We’ll not know how bad it is until we get him scanned and see just how bad it is,” said Bruce, in the immediate aftermath of Friday’s defeat.

“Like with Ryan (Fraser, who has been forced to drop out of the Scotland squad because of his own hamstring problems), it’s obviously a big blow, but we hope that it’s not too bad. We’ll see.”

Bruce will consider changes for the Chelsea game after his team performed so badly against Southampton.

“There’s certainly positions up for grabs,” he said. “That’s for sure. We’ll just have to wait until the internationals come back and see.”