Eddie Howe set to make Bruno Guimaraes decision as Newcastle United suffer fresh injury blow

Bruno Guimaraes is in line for his first St James’ Park start against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Friday night with Joe Willock an injury doubt.

The Brazilian - having made three consecutive starts at Southampton, Chelsea and Everton before the international break - was named on the bench for the 5-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.

The midfielder helped Brazil win their World Cup qualifying group by scoring his first national team goal in the 4-0 victory against Bolivia before returning to Tyneside two days before the trip to North London.

Guimaraes, a £35million January signing from Lyon, was introduced as a 58th-minute substitute at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and Eddie Howe explained after the game why the 24-year-old was left out of the starting XI.

The Magpies head coach said: “I didn’t select him to start because I wanted to revert to the midfield that had served us so well during the nine-game unbeaten run plus the fact he hadn’t been training with us and wasn’t able to prepare with us in the same way the other players had. There were a couple of different angles to look at.”

However, Guimaraes is in contention for a return to the starting line-up and make his full home debut with Willock - as first reported by the Daily Mail - nursing a knee injury.

Howe could opt for Guimaraes, Jonjo Shelvey and Joelinton in midfield should he stick with his 4-3-3 formation, which was exploited by Spurs in the second-half on Sunday.

Like Tottenham, Wolves also operate with wing-backs, so the 44-year-old could well revert back to the 5-4-1 system deployed at Chelsea. Guimaraes started that game in midfield alongside Sean Longstaff.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail has also reported that Kieran Trippier will miss Newcastle’s next two home matches versus Wolves and Leicester City as he continues his recovery from a broken foot.

After Trippier went for a progress scan on Friday, Howe revealed after the Spurs defeat that the result was not as positive as hoped.

Howe said: “His injury is healing, it’s not totally healed.

“We will be able to start pushing him, maybe not as quickly as we initially wanted to, but I still think he’ll come back this season.”

That said, it is believed the England right-back could still return to action before the end of April.