The midfielder was forced to miss five games earlier this year because of the issue and suffered a recurrence last Friday which led to him being left out of the squad for the win over Ipswich.
Boss Eddie Howe then revealed Joelinton was set to see a specialist to try and get to the bottom of the issue.
And the 28-year-old has not yet resumed training, raising significant doubts over the chances of him being involved at the Amex Stadium on Sunday.
Howe said at the weekend: “He’s going to see a specialist. He trained yesterday, but just felt his knee wasn’t 100 per cent right, and that’s the knee that he had an injury with earlier in the season.
“He’s done brilliantly to play through the number of games that he has without being 100 per cent fit, but he got to the point where he felt he needed a slight intervention, so let’s keep out fingers crossed it’s not serious.”
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In Joelinton’s absence, Howe handed Joe Willock a first Premier League start since February against Ipswich, but the former Arsenal midfielder was replaced midway through the second half.
If Joelinton is again unavailable to face Brighton, Howe must decide whether to give Willock another chance or to hand Sean Longstaff or Lewis Miley a rare opportunity in from the off.
Howe could also possibly tinker with his approach and bring Anthony Gordon into the side but that bold move feels unlikely for such a big game.
Newcastle are currently third but could have dropped to fifth by the time they kick off at the Amex. Nottingham Forest will leapfrog Chelsea, Manchester City and the Magpies if they beat Brentford at the City Ground on Thursday night in what is their game in hand. City then host Wolves on Friday night.
Seventh-placed Aston Villa will feel like they have to beat Fulham in Saturday’s early kick-off if they’re to keep their Champions League hopes alive. Chelsea, who are currently fifth, then host champions Liverpool at 4.30pm on Sunday.
With Forest’s return to European football looking probably, it was today confirmed that owner Evangelos Marinakis will not have a controlling interest next season.
Marinakis, who also owns Greek club Olympiacos, has placed his shares in a blind trust in order to comply with UEFA regulations on multi-club ownership, which state no individual is allowed to control two clubs that are competing in the same competition.
With his Greek side already qualified for next season’s Champions League, there would be a conflict of interest if Forest were able to follow them into Europe’s premier club competition.
The move is only a temporary measure and is a commonly-used practice, with Manchester United’s co-owners Ineos suspending their interest in Nice for this season.
With Marinakis pausing his involvement, Sokratis Kominakis, the Forest co-owner, is returning to the club’s board.
