Newcastle United have suffered a major setback to Callum Wilson ahead of their Premier League clash against Manchester United.

What's the story?

The Magpies have endured a wretched start to the new campaign thus far, finding themselves winless in their opening three games and facing the prospect of taking on a Manchester United side buoyed by the late summer arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Steve Bruce has since delivered yet more bad news to the club's supporters ahead of today's game against the Red Devils at Old Trafford.

He said: "Callum Wilson won’t make the weekend unfortunately with his thigh injury. We’re not going to put a timescale on it. It’s really frustrating for Callum and for us. We’ve just got to give it as long as it needs."

Fans will be gutted

Make no mistake about it, being without Wilson for a game against a team like Manchester United is a hammer blow to the Magpies' faint chances of causing an unlikely upset at Old Trafford.

The England international has been one of the rare shining lights for the Tyneside club over these past 12 months, marking his debut campaign for Newcastle last season with 12 goals in just 26 Premier League games.

This season has seen him start off with a bang too, netting twice in the opening three fixtures, and he's very much the man on whom Newcastle rely to score the bulk of their goals - Joe Willock was the only other player in the squad to score more than four times in last season's Premier League.

Without the 29-year-old centre-forward to call upon, it's difficult to see how and where Newcastle find any goals on Saturday afternoon, and this latest update from Bruce is sure to have left Magpies fans absolutely gutted.

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