Newcastle United handed injury boost ahead of Chelsea Premier League Summer Series match

Joe Willock is yet to feature for Newcastle so far in pre-season after suffering a hamstring injury in the final weeks of the 2022-23 season against Brighton & Hove Albion. But the 23-year-old has travelled to the United States for the Premier League Summer Series.

Willock sat out the 3-3 draw with Aston Villa in Philadelphia on Sunday evening along with Sean Longstaff and goalkeeper Nick Pope. Longstaff didn’t travel with the squad to Philadelphia, instead remaining at the club’s Atlanta training base to recover from a slight groin issue.

Pope is also yet to feature so far in pre-season after undergoing surgery on his fingers towards the back end of last season.

But ahead of the match against Chelsea on Thursday morning (1:15am kick-off BST), all three players were spotted at the open training session in Atlanta. Pope and Willock both took part in the full session as they close in on a first-team return while Longstaff participated in part of the session.

The players also took part in a inter-squad baseball tournament on Monday evening in which Longstaff, Willock and Pope were part of the winning side along with Joelinton, Matt Targett, Anthony Gordon, Jacob Murphy, Jamaal Lascelles, Mark Gillespie, Lewis Miley and Ben Parkinson.

Harvey Barnes has also trained with the Newcastle squad for the first time this week after making his non-competitive debut off the bench in the closing stages of the draw with Villa.

The winger joined United from Leicester City for £38million and is set to feature against Chelsea. Following the Chelsea match, Newcastle wrap-up their Premier League Summer Series with a match against Brighton & Hove Albion in New Jersey on Saturday morning (12:30am BST).