EDDIE Howe fears Newcastle United are set to be dealt a major blow, with the head coach admitting the injury which forced Joe Willock off at Nottingham Forest "doesn't look good".

Willock scored the opening goal at the City Ground after just 18 seconds but had to be replaced 14 minutes later with a thigh injury and looked distraught as he left the pitch.

Willock was limited to just nine Premier League appearances last season because of injury and could now be set for another spell on the sidelines.

"It's a huge blow for him and for us," said Howe.

"He was the scorer of the goal and he looked good. His absence meant we had to reshuffle the midfield which is something we didn't want to do in that moment at all.

"We just hope it's not serious. It doesn't look good. He's feeling a pain in his thigh so we'll have to wait and see how serious it is."

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Forest forward Jota cancelled out Willock's early opener in the second half but Newcastle held their nerve to win 4-3 on penalties and book a Carabao Cup third round tie away at AFC Wimbledon.

Howe said: "It was a tough game. Great start but then I don't think we really saw the best of us until the last half an hour when I thought we were excellent.

"The bit in between, we have work to do to get to our best levels."

Forest were on top after their leveller but the game swung back in Newcastle's favour after Howe turned to his bench and introduced Anthony Gordon, Tino Livramento and Sean Longstaff.

Howe said: "There was renewed energy, a different feel to us in the latter stages of the game. That was everything we wanted to be in that last period. Certainly you can see we have players still getting back to their best levels."