Alan Pardew: "I thought Nile did very, very well when he came on against Liverpool, having seen a couple of the DVDs of cameos from him.
"I happened to be at the Chelsea game as a spectator in the cup where he played that night.
"I know he's got some assets, and he's got a lot to learn, but whether he starts, we'll have to wait and see.
"Shola's still struggling a little bit with his hamstring, and Sol Campbell reported in sick yesterday, so he's at home hoping he can recover in time."
Pardew will have central defenders Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson back from suspension for Saturday's Barclays Premier League trip to Birmingham.
Coloccini was sent off during the 5-1 defeat at Bolton and Williamson also picked up a three-match ban after being found guilty of violent conduct against striker Johan Elmander following the use of video evidence.
Keeper Steve Harper, who was an unused substitute in last week's 3-1 victory over Liverpool on his return from shoulder surgery, is pushing to replace Tim Krul in goal but Dan Gosling (knee), Ryan Taylor (ankle ligaments) and Hatem Ben Arfa (double leg fracture) are still out.
Birmingham have no new fitness doubts despite a bout of flu hitting the camp.
Defenders Liam Ridgewell and Martin Jiranek were both affected, but have recovered sufficiently to be in contention for the team's match against Alan Pardew's side.
Alex Hleb is still out with a calf strain.
BIRMINGHAM: (from): Foster, Carr, Murphy, Bowyer, Johnson, Ridgewell, Larsson, Gardner, Jerome, Ferguson, Doyle, Dann, Madera, Fahey, Zigic, Valles, Parnaby, Beausejour, O'Shea, Redmond, Jiranek, Phillips.
NEWCASTLE (from): Harper, Krul, Simpson, Perch, Ferguson, Enrique, Coloccini, Williamson, S. Taylor, Campbell, Kadar, Barton, Tiote, Smith, Routledge, Gutierrez, Guthrie, Nolan, Vuckic, Tavernier, Donaldson, Carroll, Lovenkrands, Ranger, Xisco.