Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe has explained the reasoning behind substituting Alexander Isak during their last match before the Carabao Cup final.
Isak started on Monday night against West Ham United at the London Stadium but did not play for the whole game. Howe substituted the striker in the 79th minute, replacing him with Callum Wilson.
Newcastle were 1-0 up by that point, with Bruno Guimaraes scoring the game's only goal a quarter of an hour earlier. The midfielder finished a Harvey Barnes cross on the stretch to win in east London six days before they play Liverpool on the opposite side of the capital.
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Speaking after the match, Howe acknowledged why he withdrew Isak. "I didn't take him off with an injury," the Newcastle head coach clarified.
"I took him off because I thought he was tiring. But no issues that I'm aware of."
Isak has started each of their two matches this month since missing the 2-0 defeat at Anfield due to a slight groin problem.
In the first of those, their FA Cup final quarter-final against Brighton & Hove Albion, Wilson came on for Isak in the 86th minute after the player felt he had to come off due to "general tightness".
However, he was fit enough to start and play almost 80 minutes against West Ham before tiring.
His substitution notably came at the same time as Joe Willock replaced Barnes, with Guimaraes' withdrawal for Longstaff following nine minutes later.
Nick Pope and Sandro Tonali also received treatment during the match but did complete the game.
Howe offered an injury update afterwards. "We're hopeful that we have a clean bill of health," he said.
"I don't think you ever know until the next day or two. But, at the moment, I think we look OK."
