Newcastle United set for TRIPLE injury boost ahead of Tottenham Hotspur clash

Fabian Schar, Martin Dubravka and Jonjo Shelvey are likely to feature for Newcastle United against Tottenham Hotspur.

Starting with Schar, the central defender was forced to withdraw from the Switzerland squad last week after picking up an abductor injury in training.

That caused the 30-year-old, who has also been nursing a groin issue, to miss friendlies against England and Kosovo.

Howe revealed Schar has trained with the Magpies this week, putting him in contention to feature in North London.

As revealed by NewcastleWorld, Dubravka pulled out of the Slovakia squad with an infection - not angina, as misquoted elsewhere - and would train this week.

Indeed, the 33-year-old trained on Thursday and will likely retain his number one spot at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Shelvey has missed Newcastle’s previous two games at Chelsea and Everton - both ending in 1-0 defeats - after suffering with illness.

The former Liverpool midfielder, although still feeling the effects of his unspecified illness, has trained.

Howe, speaking to reporters ahead of the trip to Spurs, said: “Fabian (Schar) came back having not played or trained but we’ve had a couple of sessions with him, so we’ll think he’ll be fit.

“Martin (Dubravka) trained with us for the first time yesterday, so we hope he’ll be fine.

Jonjo (Shelvey) has trained. He hasn’t trained every session we’ve done, I think he suffered with illness. We hope he’ll be OK.”

As well as illness, Howe revealed Newcastle has been managing Covid-19 in the camp, but th United head coach believe it’s all under control.

Howe said: “We’ve got a little bit of illness in the camp like most teams have around the country but we’ve still a couple of days before the game so we hope everyone will be OK.

“We’ve had a little bit of Covid during the break, like most teams, players and staff actually. It’s under control.

“Illness doesn’t only weaken you physically, but also mentally. It’s about building those players back up to make sure they’re 100% when the game comes around.”