Steve McClaren fears Newcastle may have lost up to 20 Premier League points as a result of keeper Tim Krul's knee injury.

The Holland international will be missing for Norwich City's televised visit on Sunday after damaging an anterior cruciate ligament in his country's Euro 2016 qualifying win in Kazakhstan last weekend.

'It's a massive blow for us, you're talking about one of the best players in our team. He's a vital player, very important, and he'd get us 18 or 20 points a season with the way he plays,' said McClaren. 'To lose that is devastating. We've had a couple of days to get over it, but for him, the shock of starting to get injured is starting to appear. In the last day or two, he's been a little bit down, but that's football and he'll recover.

'He'll get the best treatment and a good operation, and we wish him well with that. In the meantime, it's time for Rob Elliot to step forward and fill his boots. He needs to step up and perform.'

Krul's loss could hardly have come at a worse time, with Newcastle propping up the table with no wins from their opening eight fixtures, and McClaren could be forgiven for bemoaning his luck after Krul was originally named on the bench for his country before a late call-up to replace Jasper Cillessen.

'When that happened, people who have worked here for many years were saying, 'For some reason, it's always Newcastle'. Here, it just seems to be one disaster after another,' he said. 'But you have to get on with it. This is football, and this is what happens.

'I couldn't believe the text I got on Saturday evening. It was incredible because I'd just spoken to Tim earlier in the day to wish him luck, and he'd said he was on the bench and wouldn't be playing. I said, 'Well, at least you'll be fit for next week'. So to get that text didn't exactly make my night.'