JACK COLBACK and Grant Hanley have both been ruled out of Newcastle United’s Championship game with Blackburn Rovers – with the Magpies one win away from a piece of club history.

If Rafael Benitez’s side win tomorrow, they will have recorded ten wins in a row in all competitions for the first time, breaking a record that was set in 1994.

They will have to achieve their victory without Colback though, with the midfielder having sustained an eye injury in training this week.

Jonjo Shelvey is available, with the Football Association still to set a date for his misconduct hearing, and the former England international is set to partner Isaac Hayden at the base of midfield.

Benitez said: “We have Colback with some problems with his eye so he will not be available, and Hanley is also out because of a problem with his shin. Everyone else is fine and available.

“He (Shelvey) is available. He is with us, training well, and doing well in the training sessions.”

Newcastle go into tomorrow’s game with a five-point cushion over second-placed Brighton, but Benitez continues to insist they can take nothing for granted, and the Spaniard is more interested about claiming another three points than rewriting the record books.

He said: “If we win, we can get three points and a record, but the main thing is to get three points. It would be special, but to get three points is the priority. If we do that, the other things will come.

“We are doing a lot of good things and you have to give credit to our players. We are training well and competing well, and everything is fine.”

Benitez paid tribute to former Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard, who announced his retirement from football this week after winning the Champions League under the current Newcastle boss.

The Magpies manager said: “I was really lucky because we got the best from Steven. He scored 104 goals for us when we were there, and he was the kind of player where you will not find too many now - a good professional and leader on the pitch.

“He was working so hard off the pitch and an example for everyone. He played in different positions so he was learning the understanding of the game, maybe he can be a good coach in the future – if he wants to talk to me about that, we can be in contact and hopefully I can give him some good ideas.

“We are talking about one of the best payers I ever had. He can be an inspiration to the rest of the team like in Istanbul. Thanks to him, we won the Champions League in Istanbul.”