Newcastle United have suffered a major blow in their race for promotion to the Premier League, with Dwight Gayle ruled out for the next month, reports Sky Sports.

Gayle is Newcastle’s top goal scorer this season, finding the net on 20 occasions.

The striker limped out of Monday’s 2-0 victory over Aston Villa after just 33-minutes, with yet another hamstring injury.

Monday’s fixture was Gayle’s first start in over a month, after he was ruled out following an injury picked up in January’s win over Brentford.

Aleksandar Mitrovic and Daryl Murphy will offer Rafa Benitez more than capable options to replace Gayle, but the former Liverpool manager will wish he had his key man available, with an important run of fixtures coming up.

Newcastle face Bristol City on Saturday, before three consecutive away games to teams competing with the Magpies for promotion.

Gayle is set to miss crunch fixtures with Brighton, Huddersfield and Reading, as the race for promotion enters its final stages.

Here is how Newcastle fans reacted to the length of Gayle’s injury on Twitter…