Key Newcastle United duo not pictured training following international duty withdrawals as forgotten man returns

The Newcastle squad have returned to training at Darsley Park after a week in Dubai during the international break.

Bruno Guimaraes, Miguel Almiron, Chris Wood and Emil Krafth were all absent due to representing their respective nations this week.

The World Cup Qualifiers saw Guimaraes score his first goal for Brazil against Bolivia on Tuesday night while Almiron and Wood also got on the scoresheet for Paraguay and New Zealand respectively.

Krafth couldn’t help Sweden secure a place at this winter’s World Cup in Qatar as they were beaten 2-0 by Poland.

Kieran Trippier (foot) and Callum Wilson (calf) have been recovering from injury and have returned to light training in the gym. Neither are out on the grass in full training just yet as they aim to return to first team action by the end of April.

Martin Dubravka was sent home from international duty with Slovakia due to illness and Fabian Schar withdrew from the Switzerland squad because of an ongoing adductor issue. Neither player has been spotted training so far this week as they remain doubts for Sunday’s match.

And with eight first team regulars unavailable to train in the first half of the week, several Under-23s players were given the call to work alongside the first team.

Isaac Westendorf, Remi Savage and Joe White were all pictured on the club website.

Jamal Lewis is also back in training having not been included in Newcastle’s 25-man squad for the second half of the season due to injury.

Allan Saint-Maximin has returned to regular training during the break and is in contention for his first Newcastle start since February 13.

Eddie Howe’s side are preparing for a return to Premier League action at Spurs as they hope to bounce back from consecutive defeats against Chelsea and Everton.

A result in North London would help ease any lingering relegation concerns that bit further with the Magpies currently sitting nine points clear of the bottom three with nine games remaining.

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