Joelinton badly betrayed Steve Bruce by producing a horror show performance as Newcastle United’s sole centre-forward in his side's 2-0 defeat to Manchester City on Boxing Day.

Bruce was forced into facing Pep Guardiola’s Sky Blues without the Toon’s leading goalscorer Callum Wilson after the eight-goal striker sustained a knock that prevented his involvement.

Wilson was sorely missed by the visiting Magpies side throughout Joelinton’s time on the field, which ended whilst when he was replaced midway through the second half by Andy Carroll, with Bruce seeing United’s record-signing forced off after sustaining an apparent hip injury.

Joelinton often lacked any clear intelligence with his forward runs and hardly displayed any serious threat to Ederson’s net, as he rarely acted as Newcastle’s main goal threat whilst the now-£18m-rated man earned his 13th outing of the Premier League season.

The 24-year-old had struck just one goal in his prior 12 appearances this term and Bruce will be hoping for positive news on Wilson’s fitness ahead of the game against champions Liverpool on Wednesday night.

Joelinton was far worse than Matt Ritchie against Manchester City, despite Bruce feeling the need to haul the former AFC Bournemouth maestro off after 66 minutes having seen the winger lose all five of his ground duels and possession 14 times, per SofaScore.

Joelinton was by far the worst-performing Newcastle player at the Etihad Stadium on Boxing Day, where he lost four of his five ground duels, five of 11 aerial contests and possession 11 times while failing to direct his sole shot of the night on target.

Bruce never saw Joelinton attempt, let alone complete, a dribble, either, as he sought to palm off possession with 11 accurate passes despite taking 30 touches of which, a majority came in the middle third of the pitch.

The Brazilian attacker was additionally caught offside once, committed two fouls and offered zero key passes, and will now be fearing for his place in the starting line-up regardless of the extent of his potential hip injury.

Should Wilson not be passed fit to face Liverpool, Bruce will be able to call on Andy Carroll or Dwight Gayle after the pair entered the action as late substitutes on Saturday night.

AND in other news, a Newcastle gem with his “best years ahead” was Steve Bruce’s sole positive at Brentford.