Pardew "half hopeful" on Jose.

Alan Pardew has admitted that Jose Enrique is still a fitness doubt ahead of the weekend match against Wolves.

It had been reported previously that Jose's hamstring strain was "not too serious" and that he should be alright for the Wolves game. That appears to not be the case any more and Jose will be assessed throughout the week in an effort for him to prove his fitness ahead of what is one of the most important NUFC matches of the season.

It's not all bad news though as Leon Best and Jonas Gutierrez should both be fit to feature at St James' Park on Saturday. On the current injury situation, Pardew had this to say:

“I’m half hopeful that Jose makes it,” Pardew told The Chronicle. “Jonas is fit, and Joey Barton has another week of training under his belt. It’s just whether Jose makes it through. Leon Best’s only a slight worry for me.”

If Jose doesn't make it I expect we'll see Shane Ferguson make a full Premier League debut, and if he plays anything like he did at Stoke then I'll have no worries about the lad, especially if he has Jonas in front of him helping out with the defensive side of things.

Another potential selection headache is just who to play in the centre of defence. Mike Williamson has the shirt at the minute, but Steven Taylor is waiting in the wings to capitalise. I'd probably stick with Williamson to be fair as I don't think it's a fantastic idea to break up a central defensive pairing ahead of an important game such as this. That plus I don't want to see Taylor backing off an attacker like they are wielding a knife again.

Stephen Ireland is available for selection although I doubt that a starting role will be afforded to him due to his lack of match sharpness. It's a shame really because if Ireland was fit to start it would mean that we could push Kevin Nolan further up the pitch and get him into the positions where he can do his damage. Since he has been pushed back into midfield his goals have dried up, and we need goals at the minute.

Just my two-penneth worth anyway....

As I said in an earlier article about the NUFC team news, the lines of communication regarding injuries and what not have been opened, much like I thought they would, and no doubt we will hear more as the week progresses.

Hopefully it's all good injury news!