Newcastle United star eyeing Liverpool return after injury setback and ‘frustrating’ period

Wilson missed Newcastle’s 1-1 draw against his former club Bournemouth last weekend due to a slight hamstring issue and wasn’t spotted training with the first-team in the early part of the week. The Magpies No. 9 scored his seventh goal of the season against West Ham United last time out at St James’s Park but admitted he couldn’t risk the trip to the Vitality Stadium after feeling some tightness in his hamstring.

"I can't take any risks any more,” he said on the Footballer’s Football Podcast. “Too often I've been 80% fit, declared myself available to play, and then ended up pulling up with something after 20 minutes. I'm not going to cross that bridge again."

Newcastle and Wilson have the Carabao Cup final against Manchester United at Wembley Stadium to prepare for on February 26 (4:30pm kick-off. But before that, there’s a huge match against Liverpool at St James’s Park this Saturday.

Liverpool are the only side to have beaten Newcastle in the Premier League this season and are the last away side to win a game at St James’s Park.

“They've just won the Merseyside derby, we're off the back of a couple of draws now, which is frustrating," Wilson added. “[We're] at home, the game before the cup final, you want to go into the cup final with a bit of momentum.

“I think coming up to Newcastle is a difficult game for anyone at the moment so fingers crossed we get a positive result.”