Newcastle United star spotted in training ahead of Chelsea - key man 'missing' & £35m ace 'close'

Joelinton is likely to miss the match with a knee injury, along with Lewis Hall and Matt Targett, who have been ruled out for the remainder of Newcastle’s Premier League season.

Jamaal Lascelles is also unlikely to feature before the end of the season, given his time out and the importance of Newcastle’s remaining fixtures. But the defender, who scored in last season’s 4-1 win over Chelsea at St James’ Park, has returned to training after 13 months out with an ACL injury.

Lascelles was pictured in training ahead of the match at St James’ Park as Eddie Howe’s side look to strengthen their grip on the Champions League places. They currently sit fourth in the table with three games remaining but could drop to sixth with a defeat to Chelsea on Sunday.

Eddie Howe provies Jamaal Lascelles latest

Last week, Howe was asked whether Lascelles would return to action for Newcastle before the end of the season.

"With Jamaal, he is making good progress,” Howe said. “Really pleased with how he has looked since coming back to training.

“It has been a slow, steady return, he's certainly not been rushed. Possibly he could be involved before the end of the season but maybe it will depend on injuries with some of the other players within the squad.

“I think maybe for Jamaal it would be better if it was next season but I think if he feels good and has done enough training then [him playing this month] is certainly something we'll look at.”

In addition to Lascelles, Fabian Schar was also pictured in training after limping off against Brighton with a suspected hamstring issue. Kieran Trippier, who also went off against Brighton, was not pictured.

But when asked about Schar and Trippier, Howe simply said: “Yeah [they’re] doing pretty good.”

Sven Botman pushing to be back involved for Newcastle United

Sven Botman hasn’t started a game for Newcastle in three months and has endured a difficult time with knee injuries over the past two seasons. The defender has featured off the bench in Newcastle’s previous two matches and could yet return to the starting line-up before the end of the season.

“Yeah he's definitely getting there,” Howe admitted. “I think he's had, most importantly, a sustained run of training injury-free looking good that's always a great thing for us and for Sven.

“I think he feels confident in his body again, which again is hugely important after the couple of injuries that he's had. He's a huge player we know, and he's got standout quality, so yeah, he's close [to starting].”

Eddie Howe previews NUFC v Chelsea

Looking ahead to Sunday’s game, Howe said: “Chelsea gave us one of our toughest games of the season at Stamford Bridge earlier this season. I thought they were excellent. And I think they've started to recapture that form in their recent games.

“I think Enzo [Maresca] is a very, very good manager. He's very clever with what he does, with the style of play that they possess.

“And I think they've got really good attacking players that can hurt us if we're not right. So we need to get our preparation right. Our game plan needs to be good. And our players need to be ready to perform to their best levels.”

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