STEVE BRUCE has admitted Newcastle United will be forced to make more changes than he would have liked for tomorrow night’s Carabao Cup tie with Leicester City at St James’ Park.

As well as already being without Dwight Gayle, Andy Carroll and DeAndre Yedlin, the Magpies have suffered further injury frustration following Sunday’s euphoric 1-0 win at Tottenham in the Premier League.

That victory has come at a cost, with Miguel Almiron, Joelinton, Christian Atsu, Fabian Schar and Jamaal Lascelles all expected to join Allan Saint-Maximim on the sidelines following his recurrence of the hamstring injury sustained at Spurs.

Bruce has hinted means he will have to make four or five changes to the team that started at Tottenham, even though he is desperate to see Newcastle progress in the competition and build on the impressive victory at the weekend.

“I have a few knocks, bumps and bruises,” said Bruce. “Big Joe has played when he was sore with a groin, he’s a doubt, Almiron’s a doubt (ankle), Atsu has fatigue, Schar is a doubt too, while Lascelles is a doubt with a calf problem, and is extremely doubtful. Then there’s Allan Saint-Maximim.

“The disappointing thing for Allan, who trained all week, is he had a recurrence and that is hugely disappointing. Atsu in particular, he trained for a few days and did more than I thought he would be. He is a bit sore. I still expect to pick a squad-team, and it is a squad with 25 players, that I can pick a team to get us through.

“It’s different with a muscle injury, if you are carrying a knock or bruise then of course you might be able to patch someone up. The ones where you worry, big Joe, Almiron has an ankle, if you have soft tissue injury then always a problem.”

After tomorrow’s game with Leicester, Newcastle face Watford on Tyneside on Saturday before the international break, so Bruce hopes Saint-Maximim will be close to a return after that after being forced off so early against Spurs.

“We will let the bleed settle on his hamstring,” said Bruce. “The initial scan thinks it is not that serious but we will not know the severity of it later today. The one thing you, and for him too, we didn’t look at him as a risk.

“He trained all week. He was available for every session. Disappointing. It has been a frustrating start for him. Hopefully we get a positive scan for him. The international break comes at a big time for him.

"If it’s not too serious we would be looking at three weeks so that would be good news. For him the int break is a good time, we have a few knocks and bruises.”

After a difficult couple of weeks Newcastle bounced back at Tottenham and Bruce was delighted with the performance.

“They have set the standard which we now have to maintain, that’s the big thing now,” said Bruce. “Consistency is what every good team needs. It was the type of performance, a big game, live on Sky, Tottenham is one of the greatest arenas in Europe, so to go down to the capital and beat them was terrific. The performance, the response from the players was clear for everyone to see.

“The players knew they didn’t play well enough against Norwich, but on any given day it can happen to you. The response was the most important.

"The criticism is something we will always have to live with here. It’s the manner in which they went about the job, everyone associated with the club, the way they went about their work was good to see.”