Newcastle United Alexander Isak fitness concern confirmed ahead of Man Utd & Callum Wilson uncertainty

Newcastle United drew 1-1 with Brighton & Hove Albion at St James’ Park on Saturday afternoon.

Joel Veltman put Brighton ahead early on before Sean Longastaff equalised for Newcastle on the stroke of half-time. The Magpies ended the match without a recognised striker on the pitch with Alexander Isak withdrawn and Callum Wilson unavailable for the game.

Isak was withdrawn with around 25 minutes left to play as Newcastle tried and failed to find a winner as the match ultimately ended 1-1.

Explaining the decision to take Isak off with plenty of time left to play, Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe said: “Alex wasn't feeling very well yesterday so I took the decision to look after him with a three-game week in mind. You could see he wasn’t at full tilt today.”

The match ended Isak’s streak of scoring in seven consecutive home matches at St James’ Park. Despite many of Newcastle’s injured players being present on the pitch at full-time to mark the final home match of the season at St James’ Park, Wilson was not in attendance for the match.

Explaining the striker’s absence, Howe claimed ahead of the match that Wilson was feeling ‘a little bit of tightness’. After the match, he suggested the player was also ill.

“Callum, also a little bit of illness and not feeling great in his body so hopefully he'll be back [at Manchester United].”

The draw keeps Newcastle sixth in the table with two games left to play including a huge trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Wednesday night (8pm kick-off).