"Devastating" - Newcastle star reacts to major injury blow ahead of West Ham United & Brentford

Newcastle United have been handed a major injury blow ahead of their upcoming games with West Ham United and Brentford with defender Lewis Hall ruled out for the season. The former Chelsea player missed the FA Cup defeat against Brighton and Hove Albion.

It was unclear how serious the injury was until a statement earlier this week from the Magpies confirmed he would not play again this season. Newcastle travel to West Ham United on Monday night before the Carabao Cup final with Liverpool on March 16. They then face Brentford in their first game after the international break.

Hall played every minute of Newcastle’s two-legged semi-final win over Arsenal but has opened up on the devastation of missing out on a Wembley appearance as well as not being able to feature in the Premier League run-in. The Magpies are one of Chelsea’s main rivals for a Champions League spot.

Hall on injury

"It's gutting, especially with the games coming up," the left-back told Newcastle’s club website on Friday. "There's so much to play for until the end of the season and I was looking forward to them so much, so it's devastating, not just for me but being able to help the team.

"I feel like my season's gone well and it's come at probably the worst time. I would want to continue playing but we had to look at my career and agree on what was best. If I was to play through the pain, things could have got worse which would have a negative impact on my career long-term.

"Honestly, I would play through anything if I could. Obviously the cup final is a massive game; I'd played in all the games leading up to it and I'd like to think I've played a big part in us getting to this stage.

"It's quite hard to accept at the minute but I'm still young and there are many opportunities ahead, I'm very confident in that.

"I haven't had it before in my career but watching us train every day and watching the team play is something that I'm really not looking forward to, but I've got so much faith in the boys to get us over the line and do what we need to do."

West Ham and Brentford’s previous Newcastle encounters

West Ham claimed a 2-0 win at St James’ Park in their earlier meeting with the Magpies this season . Tomas Soucek scored after 10 minutes at the end of November before Aaron Wan-Bissaka added a second goal early in the second half.

At the time, the victory eased the pressure on manager Julen Lopetegui but the Hammers were unable to put a consistent run together with the Spaniard sacked at the beginning of January and replaced by Graham Potter.

Newcastle and Brentford have already met twice this season as they played two games in the space of 11 days back in December. The Bees won 4-2 when the sides met in West London in the Premier League with Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa, Nathan Collins and Kevin Schade scoring for the hosts while Alexander Isak and Harvey Barnes netted for the visitors. The Magpies won when the sides met in the Carabao Cup quarter finals, with Eddie Howe’s side clinching a 3-1 win.

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