Steve Bruce has confirmed that Jonjo Shelvey and Dwight Gayle are back in contention for selection ahead of this weekend's clash with Manchester United.
Shelvey picked up a hamstring injury in Newcastle's most recent home game against Brighton and was expected to be out until after the international break, whilst Gayle has yet to feature for the club since returning from a loan spell at West Brom over the summer due to an ongoing calf problem.
However, Bruce has been handed a timely boost following last week's 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Leicester, revaling that the pair could return to action on Sunday.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, as quoted by Chronicle Live, Bruce said: "Jonjo is fit, and the more options we’ve got with people getting fit, the better. It’s good. Dwight Gayle has trained all week and I’ll make a decision on him in the next couple of days. Basically, everybody is fit.
"It’s been a long time (with Gayle), but he went and worked physically last week in Portugal with the physios and that was a big week for him. He’s had no reaction to that. He’s been out a long time, but he’s out on the training ground."
Allan Saint-Maximin could also be in line for just his second start since his summer arrival, having seen his game time limited so far due to hamstring issues.
However, Bruce has said that Matt Ritchie will miss out once more as he continues his recovery from an ankle injury, whilst long-term absentee Florian Lejeune will have to wait until after the international break before returning to the squad.
He added: "We’ve got practically everybody okay apart from Matt Ritchie. Lejeune is out there. He’s been training for a week or ten days and in another couple of weeks, he could be back too."
Source :
90min
