Newcastle United defender Fabian Schar is set to be out for four months in total following a fresh injury setback.
Schar suffered an ankle injury back in January that required surgery with a three-month recovery timeframe.
Sunday’s match at Crystal Palace was targeted as a potential return date for the Swiss centre-back. But he has now been ruled out for a further month.
Fabian Schar injury blow
Lewis Miley and Sven Botman are expected to be back in contention following their respective thigh and facial injuries while Bruno Guimaraes is in the final stages of his recovery from a two-month hamstring injury.
But there was ‘bad news’ regarding Schar, who has had to have a further operation.
“Fabian, unfortunately, suffered an infection in his foot,” Howe said. “So, he's been in hospital having a very small operation to get that cleaned out. So, he won't return for around a month, we think.
“So, that's bad news on him.”
Howe explained: “We've had sort of mixed injury news, I'd say, during the break.
“So, Bruno suffered, as probably the majority know, from mumps on his return from Brazil. So, that's delayed his return. So, he will not be involved in this game. I think there's probably a doubt over the Bournemouth game as well for him.
“No injury concern, more just the illness stopped him doing some key work that we needed him to do to be considered for these games. So, he may be the game after. But it's important he comes back when he's ready.
“On everybody else, we're pretty good. Lewis trained and trained well with us. So, that's been a great thing for us to see, because we've missed him massively.
“And then, of course, you had Sandro [Tonali], who played during the international break anyway, with his injury from the Sunderland game. All others are in a good place.”
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