£5m man has already given Newcastle United Fabian Schar ‘solution’ following Southampton red card

Schar’s red card against Southampton means he will miss Newcastle United’s next three games. Those include two Premier League outings against Bournemouth and Tottenham Hotspur as well as their clash against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

Howe has a couple of options to pick from to replace Schar on Sunday, with one of those to potentially hand a full debut to Lloyd Kelly. Kelly was a second-half substitute against Southampton, replacing Lewis Hall at left-back.

Handing him a first competitive start on Sunday at the home of his former employers would be a bold move from Howe. Alternatively, he could opt to pick Emil Krafth at centre-back.

The Swedish international was the man Howe turned to following Schar’s red card on Saturday and having played alongside Dan Burn fairly regularly during pre-season, Krafth could be the go-to man on Sunday. Despite being signed as a right back, Krafth has played a lot as a makeshift centre-back in recent times and it’s a position that he is improving in: “In all my life I've been playing right-back all my life, so I would say I'm more comfortable in that position,” Krafth said. 

“But I think now from last season and this pre-season I've been playing more and more centre-half and getting more comfortable with it, so I think I can play both really well, so it's up to the gaffer to choose wherever he wants me to play.”

Having Krafth at centre-back is far from a long-term solution, however, for Sunday, it could work in their favour. Kelly’s pre-season minutes have been limited and a full debut is always a tricky game to manage - never mind if that comes at the club you left just months earlier.

Krafth and Burn have developed a partnership not just during pre-season, but also during the last few games of last season. A Carabao Cup game in midweek gives Howe a chance to experiment and possibly throw in Kelly from the off in preparation for the clash with Spurs on Sunday 1 September.