Newcastle left to sweat as Krul suffers knee injury blow

Newcastle are sweating on Tim Krul after their goalkeeper suffered a knee injury playing for Holland in their 2-1 win in Kazakhstan on Saturday.

Goals from Newcastle midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum and Galatasaray’s Wesley Sneijder helped the Dutch claim a vital win to take their Euro 2016 qualification bid to Tuesday’s final round of games.

Holland have not missed a major tournament since the 2002 World Cup. The last time the team failed to qualify for the European Championship was in 1984.

However, they may need to secure their place without the services of Newcastle goalkeeper Krul, who was injured late in the match after falling awkwardly on his knee.

Holland head coach Danny Blind reportedly described the injury as “bad” after the match, which was played on the artificial turf of the Astana Arena.

The extent of Krul’s injury will not be known until after he undergoes scans, and he took to Twitter to thank his fans for their support.

Gutted to come off with an injury tonight. Thanks for all the get well wishes. I will know more about the extent of the injury after scans ?

— Tim Krul (@TimKrul) October 10, 2015

Goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet became the fourth debutant of the night in Astana when he came on for Krul – himself a replacement for Jasper Cillessen, who was injured in the warmup.

And Newcastle, bottom of the Premier League, can ill-afford to lose their first-choice keeper given No 2 Karl Darlow is currently out with a foot injury.

The club’s third-choice keeper is Rob Elliot, who has been called up to the Republic of Ireland squad for their final European Qualifier in Poland.

Krul’s compatriot Daryl Janmaat pulled out of the Netherlands squad with a knee injury, although Newcastle are hopeful he will be fit for next Sunday’s game against Norwich.

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