Newcastle United team and injury news: Three doubts & six out v Rangers

After coming from 2-0 down to beat Gateshead 3-2 on Saturday, Newcastle will be boosted by the return of several international players while new £52million signing Sandro Tonali is expected to make his debut. But there are still some members of the squad who are doubts for the match against the Scottish Premiership side.

Here is Newcastle’s current list of injury doubts and unavailable players...

Jamaal Lascelles - muscle injury

The Newcastle captain watched on from the sidelines at Gateshead having picked up a muscle injury following his return to pre-season training. Lascelles missed the end of the 2022-23 season due to a calf issue.

Head coach Eddie Howe claimed after the Gateshead match that the centre-back’s injury wasn’t serious.

“Jamaal has a tight muscle and we hope he’ll be back very soon,” Howe said in a brief update.

Jacob Murphy - shoulder

Like Lascelles, Murphy also sat out the pre-season opener after suffering a minor injury.

He is expected to make the journey to the United States for the Premier League Summer Series later in the week.

“Jacob has a shoulder injury,” Howe said. “We don’t think it’s serious, we hope he’ll be back very soon.”

Emil Krafth - knee

Krafth is still recovering from his ACL injury suffered at Tranmere Rovers last August. The right-back missed the majority of the campaign as a result but is closing in on a return ahead of the new season.

But after such a long period on the sidelines, Howe is not expecting the Swede to feature in pre-season.

“Emil’s a little bit further back, so [he’s] doing well, making good progress, but we don’t anticipate seeing him during pre-season,” Howe said.

Nick Pope - hand

The Newcastle goalkeeper missed the final match of the 2022-23 campaign after undergoing finger surgery. He is not expected to feature at Rangers but could make his return during the United States tour.

“Nick Pope is doing well,” Howe said. “He’s doing light handling now, so he’s made good progress from his finger injury and we hope he’ll be back available to play, in and around the America trip, maybe just after.”

Joe Willock - hamstring

Willock missed the final two matches of last season after suffering a hamstring injury in the 4-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion back in May. Having worked on his recovery during the off season, the 23-year-old midfielder is still at least a couple of weeks away from being back involved, but Howe claims his progress has been ‘good’.

“Joe Willock is making good progress,” said the United boss. “He hasn’t trained with us yet but is on track to train with us in America.”

Martin Dubravka - unknown

It is unclear whether Martin Dubravka will be involved at Rangers with the goalkeeper one of the few players yet to return to training ahead of the pre-season opener at Gateshead.

Dubravka was away on international duty with Slovakia last month and therefore given extra time to recover.

Jeff Hendrick, Isaac Hayden, Ryan Fraser - unavailable

Hendrick, Hayden and Fraser are training away from the first-team this summer as they are expected to leave the club. Both Hendrick and Hayden spent last season on loan in the Championship while Fraser was frozen out of the first-team for the second half of the campaign and made to train with the Under-21s.