Newcastle United injuries: Nick Woltemade is set to be back involved against Manchester City after missing the 2-1 win over Manchester United due to illness.
Woltemade hasn’t trained fully with the team before Friday after falling ill on the back of the Magpies’ 3-2 defeat against Everton at St James’ Park last weekend.
Newcastle host Manchester City in the FA Cup fifth round on Saturday (8pm kick-off) with the forward expected to be back involved, though it may only be enough for a place on the bench.
Elsewhere in the squad, Tino Livramento is pushing for a return after two months out with a hamstring injury while Lewis Miley is set to miss the match due to his ongoing leg injury. Bruno Guimaraes, Fabian Schar and Emil Krafth remain out while Jacob Ramsey is suspended following his sending off against Man United.
Nick Woltemade set to return for NUFC
When asked about Woltemade’s availability, Howe said: “Yeah, Nick should be okay.
“Nick had an illness and lost a little bit of weight, didn't eat for a few days, so I think we needed to be smart with him. But he's trained yesterday individually and felt okay, so that's a positive.”
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Tino Livramento ‘there or thereabouts’ in injury recovery
There was a positive update on Livramento ahead of the match despite the right-back not training prior to Friday morning’s press conference, where Howe said: “He's getting there. Let's wait and see. He hasn't trained with us yet, but we hope that he will be very, very soon.
“He's done a lot of work, so there's no question on how his fitness is in the sense that his cardiovascular fitness will be really high. He's been running for a long time, so he's got a lot of work behind him, but it's just that training time and that involvement with us.
“But he's been with all our coaches and done enough and he's looked really good, so I think he's there or thereabouts.”
NUFC v Man City preview
With Newcastle sitting 12th in the Premier League table with nine games left to play, the FA Cup represents a route into Europe for Eddie Howe’s side who, despite qualifying twice for the Champions League, have not secured European football in successive seasons.
“Yes, possibly,” Howe said when asked if the FA Cup was Newcastle’s route into Europe. “We're looking at it and we just want to try and win.
“Yes, there's by-products behind winning and advancing in various competitions but I don't think we can look at it that way.
“We just have to look at it. We want the glory of trying to win a trophy. In part, then, you have to do the hard bit, which is navigate the rounds to get there. None harder than this.
“We've been given the hardest tie we could have been. I think the players' mindset has been to try and win every game.
“I've been criticised for taking the cup seriously previously, this season especially, because people have felt it's given us too many games. But I think that's the way we have to be when representing this club. So, we'll have the same attitude again.”
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