Two ominous absentees from Newcastle United training as Eddie Howe ponders Arsenal team selection

Fraser hasn’t featured since being forced off with a hamstring injury against Wolverhampton Wanderers last month. The winger will face a late fitness test ahead of the final home match of the season at St James's Park.

Kieran Trippier and Callum Wilson are also pushing for their first start since recovering from their respective injuries.

Jonjo Shelvey has been away from the squad having picked up a ‘quite serious’ calf injury and has not trained. Joe Willock has also been absent from training this week due to a knee problem.

Both will miss Monday’s match as a result.

In their place, Under-23s midfielder Jay Turner-Cooke stepped up to first team training this week having travelled with the squad to Manchester City last Sunday.

Federico Fernandez has been nursing an Achillies issue but took part in full training in the latter part of the week.

Several other key players also appeared to miss out with Allan Saint-Maximin, Dan Burn and Javier Manquillo not pictured in training on the club’s website. In his pre-match press conference on Thursday Eddie Howe didn’t suggest any of the three players were suffering from any injuries that would keep them out of training ahead of Arsenal.

But it is not unusual for players to miss training sessions through the week and still feature in the upcoming game, especially with Newcastle playing on a Monday evening.

Saint-Maximin has divided opinion at Newcastle in recent months but remains the club’s top goal contributor this season with five goals and four assists to his name.

Burn has been instrumental in United’s Premier League survival this season following his £13million arrival from Brighton and Hove Albion in January and hasn’t missed a game since first coming into the side against Aston Villa.

Manquillo is unlikely to feature against Arsenal ahead of Trippier or Emil Krafth but it will be interesting to see whether Burn and Saint-Maximin keep their place in the starting line-up.

For all the latest Newcastle team news and updates, head over to shieldsgazette.com/sport/football/newcastle-united.

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