RAFA BENITEZ has revealed Spanish striker Joselu has joined the Newcastle United injury list ahead of Tuesday night’s visit of Manchester City to St James’ Park.

After the frustration of Saturday’s defeat to Watford in the FA Cup, Benitez is now preparing his players for the visit of Premier league champions City to Tyneside.

And he has explained that Joselu is facing time on the sidelines after suffering a blow during the cup exit to the Hornets – increasing the list of absentees.

Benitez said: “The midfielders are still very close but not ready for this game. Others normal, more or less the same. Karl Darlow getting better. He will be fine this week. We have lost Joselu to a bad tackle, twisted his ankle. Mo Diame, no. Jonjo Shelvey, no.”

The Newcastle boss is also trying to forget about the disappointment of losing at home to Watford in the FA Cup in the hope of engineering a surprise result against title contenders Manchester City.

“After the game we were disappointed, we have to concentrate now on a very difficult game,” he said. “When you play against City you have to forget quickly, do the right things. We have tried to recover players on Sunday and we have to be ready.

“To play against them is always not the right moment because they are so good, I have said before, in January, if we were out of the bottom three then it would be good because we knew we had to play Chelsea, City and Tottenham. We have to see if we can do well tomorrow.

“I was disappointed on Saturday, Watford didn’t play particularly well. I tried to do well, tried to go through. We have to keep the balance with our squad. I think we were capable of going through but we didn’t play well, we didn’t create chances and we paid the price.”