Newcastle United star trains separately from squad ahead of Manchester City clash

Newcastle United have been back in training this week following Saturday evening’s emphatic Premier League opening day win over Aston Villa.

Eddie Howe’s side started the 2023-24 season in style with a 5-1 victory against Unai Emery’s Villa courtesy of a brace from Alexander Isak and goals from Sandro Tonali, Callum Wilson and Harvey Barnes.

However, what quickly follows next is expected to be one of the Magpies’ toughest assignments of the campaign as they visit the home of last season’s Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup winners Manchester City on Saturday night (kick-off 8pm).

Howe is putting his players through their paces in the hope of gaining a positive result and was able to work with a near-enough fully fit squad on Tuesday, despite Fabian Schar training separately - as revealed by Sky Sports News reporter Keith Downie.

Downie told his YouTube channel: “Fabian Schar was training away from the group. He’s had that [hamstring] injury over the summer but managed to play [Saturday]. He trained on his own but did look to be running freely.”

The Switzerland international missed the remaining three games of pre-season after sustaining a hamstring injury during the first half of United’s 1-1 draw against Chelsea at the Premier League Summer Series in the United States.

The 31-year-old returned to the starting XI for the visit of Villa and although he trained alone at the beginning of this week, it won’t prevent him from being involved at the Etihad Stadium at the weekend. Indeed, it’s likely Howe and the medical team are simply managing Schar back to full fitness.

Pictures released by Newcastle on Wednesday appeared to show Schar had resumed full training on Wednesday.

Two players Howe is definitely without against City are Joe Willock and Emil Krafth. Willock won’t return until after the September international break as he continues his recovery from a hamstring issue, while Krafth is around 4-6 weeks away from training again following 12 months out with an ACL injury. Javier Manquillo is a doubt.

Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola’s side are without star midfielder Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgian is set to be sidelined for up to four months after picking up a hamstring injury during the opening day win at Burnley last Friday.