Newcastle United 'strange' injury concern as late fitness call to be made ahead of Man City

Anthony Gordon has been handed an England call-up despite remaining a doubt for Newcastle United's upcoming FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester City on Saturday (5:30pm kick-off).

Gordon's hopes of an England call-up suffered a blow after he was forced off with a knee injury during Newcastle's 3-2 defeat at Chelsea. But the injury was not as bad as first feared as he was named in the upcoming England squad for the March friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.

"Delighted for him," Howe said. "I know it's been a big aim and ambition for him since he was a little boy and he fully deserves it in my opinion, he's been outstanding this year and I think he's continued to grow week on week and I'm delighted that's been recognised because he's worked so far from the first day of pre-season after coming back from the [Under-21s] Euros and doing so well there.

"He's scored goals, created goals and done brilliantly for the team, [I'm] delighted."

And when asked about Gordon's injury, Howe added: "It was a strange one because initially when you see a player come off like that you fear it's a serious injury.

"He partly trained yesterday, we didn't do a great deal but he joined in and seemed okay. I don't think he did anything serious which is great news for us."

Newcastle will mate a late fitness call on Gordon's availability ahead of the trip to the Etihad Stadium.   "We train again [Friday] so we'll do a full session and make a judgement after that," Howe explained.