Owen injury jinx strikes again as Barton ruled out

Michael Owen is facing a two-month lay-off after the Newcastle striker’s injury jinx struck again during a 2-1 Premier League defeat at Manchester City.

The 29-year-old former England star, playing only his 62nd game for Newcastle since arriving from Real Madrid in a 16-million-pound transfer in August 2005, limped out of Wednesday evening’s clash after nineteen minutes after landing awkwardly following a challenge by City debutant Nigel de Jong.

Owen, out of contract at St James’s Park at the end of the season, left Eastlands on crutches and his injury was compounded by the loss in the second-half of Joey Barton with a foot injury.

A scan on Thursday morning confirmed that Barton had broken the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot. Newcastle estimated that he would be out of action for at least eight weeks.

Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear, who was awaiting an update on the severity of Owen’s injury, admitted he could scarcely believe the extent of the club’s current misfortune.

“We only have one fit striker in Andy Carroll. Obafemi Martins has been out for ten weeks and he has been sorely missed, while we thought Mark Viduka would be back a couple of weeks ago before he broke down again.”

Kinnear went on to bemoan Newcastle’s financial plight.

“The club owner, Mike Ashley, has lost two billion pounds of his fortune because of the credit crunch, so there is no money out there,” he said.

“I’d dearly love to spend millions and I would love to do so, but I can see why people bottled this job because it’s a tough job.”

Owen’s injury blow, which shattered his hopes of an England recall for next month’s friendly in Spain, overshadowed a win for City that was secured by goals from Shaun Wright-Phillips and Craig Bellamy prior to Carroll’s late consolation.

Robinho, playing for the first time since his arrest on Tuesday over an allegation of serious sexual assault, teed up Wright-Phillips’s opener and manager Mark Hughes praised the Brazilian for his performance.

He said: “I spoke to Robbie in the morning and he was very focused, looking ahead to the game and preparing as normal.

“After the conversation I had with him I had no qualms about putting him in because mentally he was in the right place and focused on the job in hand. He created the first goal with an intelligent ball and I thought his overall play was excellent.”

Hughes, meanwhile, remains confident of securing the services of Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given and Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz before Monday’s transfer deadline.

He said: “Our understanding of the situation is that Blackburn are not prepared to release a striker before they get a striker in.

“That’s where we are at at the moment, but we’re hoping that can be resolved. On occasions we lack a bit of a physical presence up front, so that’s why we are trying to address that.

“I have also said for quite some time that we need an experienced keeper to complement the exceptionally talented keeper we have and the intention is still there to bring in an experienced keeper. Targets we have had for quite some time, we hope to conclude.”