Hodgson confirms return to fitness for key players pre-Newcastle

“It is better news,” Hodgson said in his pre-match press conference. “Although, we lost James Tomkins yesterday unfortunately to a calf injury. He is having a scan today.

“I hope it’s not serious but that one is a bit of a blow because until yesterday he was there as well.

“We’re down now really to [Michael] Olise, [Ebere] Eze, [Dean] Henderson who have been injured for a period of time, and Jeff Schlupp who came off injured in our last game against Nottingham Forest, and although he is getting quickly better he has not recovered in time for our game tomorrow.

“The only other one, who hasn’t really been in the first-team squad for a while now unfortunately, is Nathan Ferguson, but the good news for him is that he is playing some games for the Under-21s team and making progress, so even that is very positive news.”

Speaking in the embargoed section of his press conference, Hodgson also confirmed that Joel Ward, Cheick Doucouré and Jefferson Lerma are all available for selection on Saturday.

The news will come as a relief to Hodgson, who was without those players, Odsonne Edouard – and more – for periods before the break.

The manager was reluctant to confirm a timeline on the players still out injured, but says that the medical department is making progress in returning them to readiness for Premier League action.

“Tomkins I can’t [give a timeline] because he is having a scan today, but he was training perfectly well until he felt his calf yesterday, so I'm hoping that won’t be a massive blow,” Hodgson said.

“The other two [Eze and Olise] are making good progress, but it is hard to get ETAs on them as the doctor is very cautious about when they can be allowed back in.

“It is the sort of injury that is really difficult to test, but there's a risk if we don’t get testing done to the Nth degree and throw people in, you could cause some damage.

“They are getting closer, there's no doubt about that, but I can’t tell you much more than that.”

He also said later of Dean Henderson: “Dean’s in the same position as Olise and Eze. They train separately.

"I speak to them every day but they aren’t allowed in with the main body of people training at the moment because their injuries were sufficiently severe that they’ve got to be cleared by the sports science department before they can come back in with us.

"All three of them are doing well and are certainly on course to return when the medical people thought they might. We’re still hoping they might shave a bit of time off that because they all want to play, but I can’t really affect that because it would be devastating for me if I pushed a player to come back earlier and then he suffers another serious injury.

"I have to be patient and our fans unfortunately have to be patient, but they’ll agree with me we’re very anxious to see these guys back because they’ll make us a stronger team."

The manager was reluctant to confirm a timeline on the players still out injured, but says that the medical department is making progress in returning them to readiness for Premier League action.

“The other two [Eze and Olise] are making good progress, but it is hard to get ETAs on them as the doctor is very cautious about when they can be allowed back in.

“It is the sort of injury that is really difficult to test, but there's a risk if we don’t get testing done to the Nth degree and throw people in, you could cause some damage.

“They are getting closer, there's no doubt about that, but I can’t tell you much more than that.”

He also said later of Dean Henderson: “Dean’s in the same position as Olise and Eze. They train separately.

"I have to be patient and our fans unfortunately have to be patient, but they’ll agree with me we’re very anxious to see these guys back because they’ll make us a stronger team."

Hodgson confirms return to fitness for key players pre-Newcastle

First-team

Hodgson confirms return to fitness for key players pre-Newcastle

First-team

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