MAGPIES DUO COULD RETURN
Newcastle United manager Glenn Roeder could be boosted by the return of midfielder Kieron Dyer and striker Shola Ameobi ahead of the Barclays Premiership trip to Manchester City.
Dyer has recovered from the freak eye injury which interrupted his comeback from a long-standing hamstring problem, while Ameobi, who will undergo season-ending surgery on his damaged hip sooner rather than later, also trained on Thursday and is in with a chance.
However, Roeder was giving little away over striker Obafemi Martins' hamstring injury or whether or not goalkeeper Shay Given will return in place of Steve Harper (groin) after abdominal surgery.
Dietmar Hamann is set to return to Manchester CityÂ’s squad.
The veteran midfielder has not featured since limping out of the four-goal hammering at Wigan Athletic three weeks ago but has now recovered from a thigh injury and could be on the bench.
After drawing another blank at Charlton Athletic last weekend, Pearce may opt to shuffle his strikers, with the return of Bernardo Corradi a distinct possibility.
Manchester City (from): Weaver, Hart, Richards, Trabelsi, Onuoha, Dunne, Distin, Mills, Thatcher, Jordan, Sinclair, Barton, Reyna, Hamann, Johnson, Beasley, Dickov, Samaras, Corradi, Vassell.
Newcastle United (from): Harper, Srnicek, Given, Carr, Babayaro, Bernard, Moore, Bramble, Taylor, Ramage, Huntington, Parker, Emre, Solano, N'Zogbia, Milner, Butt, Duff, Dyer, Pattison, Ameobi, Martins, Rossi, Sibierski, Luque.