Newcastle United sweat over £115m trio’s fitness as £53m duo set to play v Burnley

Newcastle United will make late decisions on Alexander Isak, Callum Wilson and Sven Botman for Saturday’s Premier League clash against Burnley.

Isak started and scored during the midweek win over Manchester City in the Carabao Cup but withdrew because of a tight calf. Wilson (hamstring) and Botman (knee) missed out altogether, and Eddie Howe has confirmed the trio will be assessed ahead of kick-off.

“Callum we’re going to see today,” said Howe, speaking on Friday. “Very minor hamstring tightness so he has every chance of being available for the game. The same with Sven, we’ll have a late check on him.

“Alexander Isak is another one who we’ll have to make a late check on. That’s the cost of three games that we had last week. It’s usually the third game where these games build up and that’s where we are.”

Meanwhile, Howe expects to have Dan Burn back from illness after he missed the City clash. Bruno Guimaraes twisted his ankle on Wednesday but is set to feature.

Newcastle remain without Joe Willock with an Achilles problem, while Howe revealed summer signing Harvey Barnes will be out until 2024.

“We think he’s going to be out for around three months,” said Howe. “No surgery required which is good news but his foot is now in a boot. It’s an injury underneath his toe and he’s now starting his recovery.

“I think he’s going to be quite sedated for a period of time because he’s got to rest and give it every chance to recover and then we have to build him up slowly.

“He’s a very stable level lad, he’s a great character.  Yes, he’s hugely disappointed and frustrated because he wanted to show everybody what he could do here and wanted to contribute. He’s very recently a new dad, which is a great moment in his life.

“I always say when these things happen you have to try and draw the positives and he’ll have the chance to be with his family maybe a bit more than he would have been.

“Things will settle down and then when he comes back, which will quickly be around the corner, he’ll have a big part to play for the rest of the season.”