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Sean Longstaff left the London Stadium on crutches after Newcastle’s defeat to West Ham, and the latest update on the youngster sounds very worrying indeed.

Newcastle’s good run came to an end in East London on Saturday evening, as goals from Declan Rice and Mark Noble gave West Ham all three points in relatively comfortable fashion.

Much of the pre-match focus was on the competition between Rice and Longstaff, and it’s fair to say Rice got the better of the first meeting between the promising pair.

To make matters worse for Longstaff, he left the match with a knee injury at half time, and Lee Ryder of Chronicle Live reported that he left the match on crutches.

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So what’s the word?

Fans shouldn’t read too much into the use of crutches as a precaution, as just last week Roberto Firmino left Old Trafford on crutches, only to feature for Liverpool off the bench in the Merseyside derby seven days later.

What should be more worrying though is the fact that it is a knee injury, and that the Magpies are currently waiting on the results of Monday’s scan.

According to Chronicle Live (15:06), the 21 year-old had a scan on Monday, and could be facing “a matter of weeks on the sidelines rather than days”.

This carries on from their earlier report from the same live blog (12:01) that says the club are fearing a “cruel blow” for the youngster.

Shut it down for the season?

If the midfielder has suffered ligament damage, his season will likely be over.

This would be a devastating loss for the Magpies, with the 21 year-old’s composure on the ball, elite passing and fantastic reading of the game completely transforming the side’s fortunes in the last few weeks.

However, it certainly shouldn’t leave fans fearing relegation, as Jonjo Shelvey can perform a similar role and is nearing full fitness – the 27 year-old impressed in action for the Under-23 side last week.

In fact, even if Longstaff is only out for a few weeks the club should consider shutting him down for the season if there is even the slightest inkling of ligament damage, which could hamper the youngster’s progress further down the line.

Cardiff have a very tough run-in while both Fulham and Huddersfield look truly doomed, so with one eye on next season the midfielder should absolutely not be rushed back into the side.