• Joelinton was arrested for drunk driving in early hours of Thursday morning.
• He was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
• He is available for Sunday’s game against Fulham.

After Joelinton’s arrest for drunk driving, Newcastle manager Eddie Howe may decide to bench the Brazilian midfielder against Fulham on Sunday in the Premier League.

The 26-year-old, who has grown to be an important part of Howe’s in-form team, was pulled over by police in the early hours of Thursday and then charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

He is available for Sunday’s game even though he must go before municipal magistrates later this month.

Asked at his pre-match press conference on Friday whether Joelinton would play against Fulham,

Howe replied: “I´m going to have to reflect and analyse on that and I´ll make a decision closer to the game in consultation with him, so I´m not 100 percent sure.

“My relationship with Joe is very good. I have sat down with him and will do so again. Ultimately, I have to pick the best team to win the game, that´s my job, but I also have to take into account the situation around that.”

Joelinton joined from German club Hoffenheim in 2019 for a then-club-record fee of £40 million ($49 million), but he had trouble finding the back of the net.

But under Howe, whose team is third in the Premier League, the South American has been a regular, scoring his team’s second goal in their 2-0 League Cup quarterfinal victory over Leicester on Tuesday.

Howe, who revealed Joelinton was desperate to play, said: “It came very much as a shock. It´s a difficult situation. Joe is very remorseful, he was very upset yesterday. I think he knows the seriousness of the situation.

“Obviously I can´t go into too much detail out of respect for the case, but I think he understands his responsibilities.

“We´re now in a position where we´re supporting him and we also understand as a football club the seriousness of the situation.”

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