EDDIE Howe is still waiting to discover the severity of Joe Willock's Newcastle United setback, but says it's a "huge blow" and it was "hard for everybody to take" after the midfielder suffered a recurrence of his Achilles' injury.

The ex-Arsenal midfielder had a long spell on the sidelines at the end of last season and start of the current campaign and Newcastle are now anxiously awaiting further information on his latest setback.

“It looks like a recurrence of an Achilles injury that he had a few weeks ago. It's a massive blow for us," said Howe after his side's excellent 4-1 victory over Chelsea.

“We don't know how long he's going to be out, we're going to have to seek specialist advice, but it's a huge blow for us.

"Naturally, he's very down, but in saying that he's calm at the same time, he's not emotional or irrational. He's seeing it for what it is. We don't know the extent of it at this moment in time, we'll do everything we can to get him back on the pitch as quickly as possible."

It's the latest in a long line of injury setbacks for Newcastle, with Howe forced to name three goalkeepers on the bench against Chelsea and four youngsters who had previously made just one first team appearance between them.

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Howe said: "Personally I've not been involved in anything like this. It just seems every way we turn, we're picking up another injury.

“The Joe Willock one was very hard for everybody to take yesterday, especially as its another recurrence, and I think that's the frustrating thing."

There was some positive news, however, with Howe revealing Emil Krafth's absence against Chelsea was because of minor illness rather than an injury.

Howe said: "He can't play in the Champions League, but he would have been okay."