Eddie Howe confirms triple Newcastle United injury boost ahead of Everton amid double setback

Last week, Newcastle were hit by a double injury blow with Alexander Isak (thigh) and Allan Saint-Maximin (hamstring) suffering setbacks on their road to recovery.

And in Sunday’s goalless draw at Manchester United, defender Fabian Schar hobbled off in the closing stages before declaring himself fit to play against Everton on Wednesday night (7:30pm kick-off).

But with the quick turnaround in matches, Howe admitted every player will be assessed ahead of the match at St James’s Park.

“Fabian is fine, he's been nursing a foot injury for a while now. It's a long term thing but he's been managing it very well,” Howe said.

“We're assessing everybody. I think when you have the three-game weeks which we're in the middle of now, every day you wake up and the players will feel better for their night's sleep.

“Hopefully everybody will be okay but we'll wait and see.”

At Old Trafford, Newcastle welcomed Jonjo Shelvey back to the bench for the first time this season following a serious hamstring injury.

While the midfielder is continuing to make positive progress, Howe played down Shelvey’s chances of being named in the starting line-up.

“The key thing is he's training, we are continuing to work him very hard and he's still in the process of the very early stages of coming back,” added the Newcastle head coach.

"He would only enter the pitch at the moment in an absolute emergency for us. We're building his load, building his training time but he's looking really good and he's done very well.

"He's as fit as I've seen him to be honest so he's in a great place but we just want to be careful with the latter stages of his injury.”

Goalkeeper Karl Darlow is also showing ‘positive signs’ after returning to light training following his ankle injury last month.

“[Darlow’s recovery] is going well, he's on the grass with the goalkeepers,” Howe revealed. “Not necessarily full training but again, the latter stages of his recovery. Positive signs for Karl.”

On a less positive note, Howe reaffirmed his post-match comments on Sunday by stating record signing Isak won’t be back available until after the World Cup break.

Saint-Maximin is set to miss the upcoming matches against Everton and Tottenham Hotspur but Howe is hopeful the Frenchman will be back available before the World Cup break next month.

“Alex we don't think we'll see again before the World Cup,” Howe added. “Unfortunately he's had a setback.

"It’s very frustrating for him as a new player coming into a new league and a new club.

"Maxi has had a very, very minor irritation to his hamstring but it's the third time it has happened so although it's a very minor injury, because of the recurrence, we have to be careful with the timescales but we hope to see him before the World Cup.”