NEWCASTLE boss Steve Bruce has admitted his concern over Matt Ritchie's ongoing injury problems.

The midfielder has not played since suffering a nasty ankle injury in a challenge by Leicester's Hamza Choudhury at the end of August and has now suffered a setback in training.

Ritchie moved to St James’ Park from Cherries for £12million in 2016.

The former Portsmouth and Swindon man scored a late leveller as Newcastle drew 2-2 with Eddie Howe’s side at Vitality Stadium last season.

He will not feature when the two teams do battle on Tyneside tomorrow (3pm).

Bruce said: "Matt's a little bit of a concern because he was going along so well and unfortunately had a reaction to training, so we've given him a little bit of time off to come off his ankle, and we'll see how that does.

"Look, he was going along very, very nicely and in all injuries when the injury is pretty serious... When you're operated on, it's pretty serious.

"But to be honest, we thought he was back 10 days ago and unfortunately in training, he pulled up sore, so let's hope he can just have a bit of time off it and let nature do its thing."