Newcastle at risk of losing another key player ahead of Arsenal clash as Sandro Tonali ban looms

Newcastle United are at risk of losing another key player ahead of their Premier League clash against Arsenal, following the news of Sandro Tonali's ban.

Tonali has been handed a 10-month suspension for breaching betting rules, the Italian Football Federation confirmed on Thursday.

The 23-year-old midfielder, who only joined Newcastle from AC Milan in July, came off the bench during the Magpies' 1-0 Champions League defeat to Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.

However, that will be the last time he features for the club until August, with the Italian also set to miss the Euro 2024 tournament in Germany should his country qualify.

Meanwhile, fellow midfielder Bruno Guimaraes could give Eddie Howe another headache as he prepares to face Arsenal in just over a weeks' time.

That is because the Brazilian has already been booked four times this season, and just one more booking against Wolves on Saturday would see him suspended for Newcastle's following league game against the Gunners.

The Tyneside club have their Carabao Cup Round of 16 clash against Manchester United sandwiched in between those two fixtures, as Newcastle seek revenge for last season's final.

But fortunately for Guimaraes, bookings in that competition will not carry over to the Premier League, meaning he must simply avoid picking up a card at Molineux in order to play against Arsenal.

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Speaking after Newcastle's 4-0 win over Crystal Palace last weekend, Howe was asked if he would attempt to tone down the 25-year-old's aggression on the pitch.

Although the Magpies boss admitted that his aggression was part of Guimaraes' style of play, stating: “It’s like any player, reining in [his aggression] maybe not because you take something away from his natural game.

“It’s the bookings that are needless that we want to try and take out of our games.

“The rules now mean there will be more yellow cards so the referees [have] definitely tightened up over the summer in terms of discipline, time-wasting and loads of little things to the game where you can and some of our players have picked up a yellow card for nothing, or perceived nothing.

“More yellow cards means more suspensions so we have to be careful. But certainly, I don’t want to be taking aggression out of anyone’s game, it’s the indiscipline ones that we want to try and eradicate.”

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Topics: Newcastle United, Arsenal, Premier League, Football, Eddie Howe, Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon

Joe Adams

Joe is a Journalist for SPORTbible with a primary focus on football. He has previously covered a number of other sports including boxing, rugby and F1. Wishes he was born left-footed.

@joeadamsjourno