Who will be No.1 now?
DUBRAVKA OR DARLOW ... AN ‘AWFUL’ DECISION SAYS BRUCE AS UNITED GO INTO CRUCIAL CLASH AT BLADES
STEVE Bruce is ‘delighted’ with Newcastle United’s goalkeeping situation but the Magpies’ head coach admits he has now has ‘one of those awful’ decisions to make when it comes to whether Karl Darlow or Martin Dubravka is his No 1.
From his debut in February 2018 to the final day of last season, Dubravka started 88 Premier League games in a row for Newcastle and the goalkeeper was deservedly named the club’s player of the year in 2020.
However, Dubravka suffered a heel injury last summer and, in his absence, Karl Darlow has made some remarkable saves this season.
Dubravka returned to action in Newcastle’s FA Cup tie at Arsenal on Saturday night and the Slovakia international showed no signs of rustiness as he made three impressive stops to deny Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Joe Willock and Granit Xhaka in the Magpies’ 2-0 defeat.
Following Darlow’s man-of-the – match display against champions Liverpool last month, Bruce said the ‘jersey’ was his – but the Newcastle boss has since stopped short of confirming who would be in goal for the trip to Sheffield United tonight.
He said: “I am delighted with the goalkeeping situation we have. We have two quality goalkeepers and Martin again reminded us of what a good goalkeeper he is.
“Karl has been very good all season so I have one of those awful ones where let’s hope I pick the right one.”
Newcastle have failed to win any of their last seven games in all competitions although the Magpies have come up against Manchester City, Liverpool, Leicester and Arsenal in recent weeks.
Bruce will never have a better opportunity to end that winless run when the Magpies travel to Bramall Lane to take on basement boys Sheffield United, who have yet to win a Premier League game all season.
With his side in 15th place in the table – albeit eight points clear of the drop zone – Bruce was asked if he thought Newcastle were in a relegation battle.
He added: “At the moment, we have a nice healthy cushion from the bottom three.
“If you had told me we were in the bottom three I would have said maybe but we knew this was going to be a tough run of fixtures.
“It does not come any tougher than what we have just experienced over the last four games.
“We are in that run where we have to, hopefully, get out of it tonight.”