Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe will hope to have Bruno Guimaraes and Allan Saint-Maximin back for the trip to West Ham next weekend.
The duo have been missing with soft tissue injuries sustained on United's hectic run of three games in the space of seven days, Bruno going down after an injury at Tranmere and Saint-Maximin hurt at Wolverhampton Wanderers after a defensive sprint back trying to prevent a goal. Callum Wilson is the other Toon star that is edging closer back into contention with a similar worry.
Even without the trio, Newcastle managed to conjure up 23 goal attempts but could not find a way past Crystal Palace's veteran Spanish keeper Vicente Guaita. The 35-year-old was arguably the overall man of the match as he stopped everything and used every trick in the book to earn Palace a shutout.
As he left the field he was mobbed by team-mates having made a host of stops and then being crafty enough to stay down for the goalmouth incident that led to Newcastle's goal being chalked off. Howe said in his Press conference: "I think they were swayed by the fact – this is just my opinion – that the goalkeeper stayed down. I think that ultimately led to the goal being disallowed."
That was the only explanation on offer after Newcastle found themselves victims of a FIFTH bad call from VAR this season. One that left the paying public seething as Joe Willock was knocked to the ground at the Leazes End with not only Tyrick Mitchells own goal wiped off, but also no sign of a penalty kick!
Sadly, referees and officials don't do Press conferences, but it's thought Michael Sailsbury and his team felt that Willock had nudged into the goalkeeper which eventually resulted in a Palace free-kick. It was all a total farce but Newcastle weren't alone when it came to bad decisions this weekend as they were across the board.
United must move on from this quickly but at least they now have a few days to recover from the packed schedule. Howe granted players some time off to reset but they will be expected to go again for next Sunday's trip to the London Stadium.
After four draws, a defeat and an opening day win over Nottingham Forest the Magpies sit in the bottom half of the table but it is still early days. And it took them until late November to reach the same seven-point tally they sit on right now.
Newcastle boss Howe hinted that his side will be working on sharpening up in the final third and improving service to new boy Alexander Isak. He said after the 0-0 draw: "I thought we starved him of the ball a little bit in certain parts of the game. We're still getting used to how he wants to receive the ball and where he needs to go to receive the ball.
"I really desperately wanted him to try to get on the ball more, especially in the attacking third. He came to life a little bit in the second half, there were certain moments of real quality.
"Look, he's had no training time with us, so he's been thrust right into action. I think he's done very well, but there's lots of improvement for us as a team to try to serve him."
You couldn't fault Newcastle at the other end. Kieran Trippier was top notch again while Matt Targett down the other side provided a threat with both relentlessly snuffing out Palace. Fabian Schar had a good game in the air and got all of his tackles right while Sven Botman is making big strides in every game as he learns patterns of play in the Premier League.
By the end of the 90 minutes, no Newcastle fan could deny the players had given it everything in the tank. On the back of a tough schedule littered with VAR controversies to still emerge points to show for it and cup progress is some going.
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