KARL DARLOW is confident Newcastle United have a strong enough squad to cope with their mounting injury problems – even though Rafael Benitez only has 13 senior outfield players available for tomorrow’s FA Cup third-round replay with Birmingham City.

The Magpies’ injury worries intensified at the weekend as Dwight Gayle, Isaac Hayden and Vurnon Anita were all unable to finish their side’s 2-1 win at Brentford.

Scans on Gayle’s hamstring have revealed an injury that will sideline the striker for two to three weeks, while Hayden could recover from his groin problem in time to face Rotherham at the weekend. However, the news on Anita is nowhere near as positive as the Dutchman has sustained ankle ligament damage that will keep him out of action for up to three months.

The trio have joined an injury list that already features the likes of Aleksandar Mitrovic, Rolando Aarons and Massadio Haidara, with Mo Diame, Christian Atsu and Chancel Mbemba all unavailable because they are on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations. Even Sammy Amoebi and Jamie Sterry cannot play against Birmingham, as they are cup-tied.

Jonjo Shelvey is available to face the Blues, having completed his five-match suspension, although Benitez will be understandably reluctant to risk the midfielder given his importance to Newcastle’s promotion hopes. Similarly, Daryl Murphy is now the Magpies’ only available senior striker, and Benitez could opt to rest the 33-year-old tomorrow in order to guarantee his participation in Saturday’s game with Rotherham.

Ideally, Benitez would like to make a couple of additions before the end of the month, having targeted a central midfielder and a wide player from the moment the transfer window reopened. While Mike Ashley has reaffirmed his desire to prioritise the purchase of young players with a sell-on value, there remains a degree of leeway for signing players who do not fit that description to solve a particular problem.

Benitez might well argue his side’s mounting injury issues require a short-term solution, but even if no one was to arrive before January 31, Darlow is confident the Magpies could cope.

“I think it’s been spoken about a lot that we’ve got a great squad,” said the goalkeeper. “Whoever comes in and replaces the other one has just as much quality.

“The lads on the bench are obviously keen to play, and when they get their chance they have to take it. Murph scored the winner against Brentford after he came off the bench, and that was fantastic.”

If, as expected, Gayle is sidelined for two or three weeks, Murphy will become an extremely important player despite his lack of involvement in the first half of the season.

The Republic of Ireland international only made his Championship debut for Newcastle in the 1-0 defeat at Blackburn at the start of the month, but his decisive header at Griffin Park made it two goals in his last two outings.

He boasts a proven track record of scoring goals in the second tier, and while Ashley might be sceptical about the value of signing players in their 30s, Murphy’s knowledge of how to succeed in the Championship could be a valuable asset as Newcastle look to cement their position in the automatic promotion spots.

“Obviously, Dwight’s a massive player for us and has been fantastic,” said Darlow. “To see him go off (on Saturday) was tough on us, but Murph came on and scored the winner, which was excellent. He’s trained very hard behind the scenes, and is a great player.”

Darlow had to wait patiently for an opportunity at the start of the season himself, but since replacing Matz Sels in September, the 26-year-old has firmly established himself as Newcastle’s number one goalkeeper.

He played a crucial role in Saturday’s win, twice denying Lasse Vibe in the first half before producing a superb late stop to prevent Brentford substitute Jota from claiming an equaliser.

His final save came in the sixth minute of nine minutes of stoppage time, and he admits he thought Brentford were making another substitution when the assistant referee raised his board in the 90th minute.

“When the fourth official put the sign up, I honestly thought it was a substitution,” he said. “I thought their number nine was coming off!

“I’ve not seen nine minutes since I’ve been playing. It was a real mental effort to get through those nine minutes. But at the end of the day, you have to grind those performances out away from home, which we have been doing. It was a massive three points for us.”

Sels had been linked with a possible January move to Anderlecht, but the Belgium club are instead attempting to sign Koen Casteels from Wolfsburg.