EDDIE HOWE has admitted that “mistakes have been made” that have contributed to Newcastle United’s ongoing injury crisis.

The Magpies were without 12 senior players at one stage last month, and while some of their injured contingent have gradually begun to return to the first-team fold, others continue to suffer problems that will keep them on the sidelines.

Fabian Schar and Joelinton both hobbled off in the first half of yesterday’s 3-0 win over Fulham – the former suffered a muscular strain in his glute while the latter sustained a problem with his hamstrings – while Alexander Isak was absent from the squad entirely after a long-standing groin issue reappeared.

Newcastle’s relentless playing schedule has clearly been a major factor in the club’s crippling injury situation, with the Magpies having been competing on three different fronts in the first half of the season, but Howe also concedes that there have been misjudgements that have also contributed to the problem.

“I don't think it takes much of an internal investigation,” said the Magpies boss, who will once again assess the walking wounded before selecting his squad for Tuesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final at Chelsea. “The problem we've had is because we've had injuries to start with. The early ones we picked up, it meant our squad has just not managed the games.

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“It’s been impossible to, we’ve had to pick the same players continually and eventually those players with the load that they’re playing under will break, so I think we’ve just been a victim of circumstance.

“Don’t get me wrong, there have been mistakes made and there will always be mistakes made medically because it’s that kind of profession. You’re not going to get every assessment right. A lot of the time, you’re in the hands of the specialist.

“But the weight of games we've had – and it’s still unrelenting for us – we just haven’t recovered properly.”

Newcastle returned to winning ways as they beat ten-man Fulham 3-0, with the victory ensuring a positive end to a difficult week that began with a 4-1 thrashing at Tottenham and also featured the anguish of an exit from the Champions League thanks to a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of AC Milan.

“For obvious reasons really, after midweek, that was a difficult experience for us,” said Howe. “I wasn't really disappointed with the performance in midweek, it was more just the outcome and what had happened and how it happened was difficult for us.

“The players are human beings, they’re not robots. They feel all the emotion. In this city, you cannot get away from the highs and lows that follow you, so they did incredibly well to hold their nerve.

“It was an incredibly tricky game for us, but hopefully that should give us the confidence now for the games we have coming up because they don't get any easier or any smaller. They're all big games for us to keep our season going positively.”