Newcastle United injury boost confirmed ahead of West Ham trip – £25m star could start

Joe Willock was withdrawn during Sunday’s 2-0 win over Manchester United with a suspected hamstring issue. Although the 23-year-old claimed after the match that he would be training on Monday, Howe was unable to provide any update on the midfielder’s fitness.

“I haven't seen him this morning,” Howe said in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday. “I don't know. It's too early.

“We're reasonably okay. There's a few tired bodies in the squad because it was a really big physical effort for us in the game [v Manchester United] but hopefully nothing too major.”

Miguel Almiron will miss the match with a thigh issue while Emil Krafth is a long-term absentee.

Newcastle currently sit third in the Premier League table and will travel to West Ham hoping to make it four wins in a row.

“It's going to be a really difficult game and West Ham are a really good team having a different season with Europe,” Howe added. “But they've got an outstanding manager with great experience and I thought they recruited really well last summer. We're going to need a physical performance and a technical and tactical performance.”

The trip marks the start of three away games in a row for Newcastle with trips to Brentford and Aston Villa to follow over the next two Saturdays. And in order to cut down on travel time, Howe confirmed his squad would be staying in London between West Ham on Wednesday night and Brentford on Saturday (8pm kick-off).