Early team news – 4 passed fit, 2 ruled out & Howe to make late call on Guimaraes at Spurs

Eddie Howe has offered updates on the fitness of SEVEN Newcastle players ahead of Sunday’s trip to Spurs.

Starting with the players who are expected to be fit, it seems like Fabian Schar and Martin Dubravka are fine, having both trained in recent days despite returning early from international duty last week.

The NUFC boss has also declared Jonjo Shelvey ready to return after a period of illness, with Allan Saint-Maximin also fit-again and in contention to start for the first time in six weeks after benefiting from our training camp in Dubai.

As for Bruno Guimaraes, Howe revealed that the Brazilian only returned from international duty on Friday following a long flight from South America, so he will be assessed ahead of the game.

Elsewhere, Kieran Trippier and Callum Wilson have been ruled out once again, with the former Atletico Madrid man closer to making his comeback than our top scorer; who may be eased back in slowly due to the delicate nature of his injury (impacting his calf and achilles).

Howe on Guimaraes:

“He’s back.

“I haven’t seen him yet. This [Friday] will be the first day I’ve seen him as with all the international players.

“Certainly, we’ll take it on an individual basis. I think the travelling time is probably the biggest concern.

I know what I feel like after a long flight.

“I think we have to talk with the players, see how they feel and make a decision based on that.”

Howe on Schar, Dubravka and Shelvey:

“Fabian Schär came back having not trained or played but we’ve had a couple of sessions with him so we think he’ll be fit.

“Martin Dúbravka trained with us yesterday for the first time so we hope he’ll be fine.

“Jonjo has trained. He hasn’t done every session because he had a bad illness but we hope he’ll be OK for Sunday.”

Howe on Saint-Maximin:

“Mentally he’s very good.

“He’s trained very well while we’ve been away [In Dubai]

“We hadn’t seen much of him [before the break]. He had a calf injury and then he had a bad illness.

“Whenever a player has some time away with that it’s very difficult to get them back up to speed straight away so this break has been very good for him.

He’s trained very well and we’re excited to see him back.”

Howe on Trippier:

“Kieran has a scan today on his foot to see how that’s healed, so hopefully that scan goes well and, from this day, maybe we can push him quite quickly to get back.

“Hopefully we get good news.

Howe on Wilson:

“Callum is slightly behind Kieran, but he’s still making good progress.

“He is back on the grass running, but I still think he’s got a little bit more time ahead of him.”

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

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