WHEN Michael Owen made his headline-grabbing move from Madrid in the summer, Graeme Souness predicted he would quickly settle into the Newcastle way of doing things.

Almost four months on, and Souness has been proved right. Owen has looked like the archetypal Newcastle player for most of his time on Tyneside, but only because, like plenty of his team-mates, he has been injured.

This evening's home game with Arsenal marks his latest scheduled comeback and, after missing six of the club's last eight matches, the England international has some bridges to build with a support growing increasingly frustrated at his spells on the sidelines. Tellingly, Owen admits as much himself.

In his absence, the striker has watched the Magpies claim a solitary point from their last three league games and crash out of the Carling Cup at Wigan. Victory tonight though, against an Arsenal side through to the last 16 of the Champions League, would help him to atone for his guilt.

"Michael is a genuine character," said Souness, whose position remains under threat following last weekend's underwhelming 1-1 draw with Aston Villa. "Because of that, I'm sure he'll feel responsible for what's happened in his absence.

"He'll be carrying a bit of guilt around with him because of that. He's not been able to help the cause and genuine people aren't happy about that.

"It's three weeks since he felt his groin. At first, we thought it was a very minor tweak and we even took him to London because we thought he would have a chance of playing against Chelsea.

"As it's happened, he's been out for the last three weeks, and I'm sure he hasn't been the best person to be at home with during that period.

"He's a very genuine professional and all the top men want to be playing every day. He's not even been able to train with us."

As well as his current groin problem, Owen has also suffered from a hamstring injury during his time on Tyneside. When he has played, though, he has looked the Magpies' most potent threat by far.

His four goals in six starts make him United's leading scorer and, with both Alan Shearer and Shola Ameobi struggling in front of goal, Souness is understandably desperate to see him back in the side.

After returning to full training yesterday, he is likely to start this evening provided there is no adverse reaction earlier in the day. But, after three weeks on the sidelines, his inclusion would inevitably represent something of a calculated risk.

"Everything's a gamble," said Souness. "It's a gamble when I wake up on a morning and decide to get out of bed.

"But you have to be guided by the player. The player is the only person that can tell you whether they're all right or not.

"Even though he's still a young man, Michael is vastly experienced. He's had injuries before and you learn to understand your body.

"He can't be 100 per cent fit because he's been out for the last three weeks. He has to be fit enough to make sure that there's no recurrence. That's the priority. When someone's been out for that long, you know they're not going to be totally match fit."

If anyone should know about the perils of players suffering a recurrence of their injury, it is surely Souness.

The Scot has seen his squad ripped apart this season, with Kieron Dyer, Craig Moore, Titus Bramble and Stephen Carr all suffering setbacks as they approached full fitness.

Steven Taylor is the latest addition to that list this week, with the teenage centre-half damaging his injured shoulder as he returned to training on Thursday.

Taylor dislocated his shoulder while on international duty with England Under-21s last month, and Newcastle will apply to the FA for compensation once he returns to the first team. If scans on Monday show he needs surgery, that could be as much as three months away.

"If he has to have an operation, you are talking about a lengthy period on the sidelines," confirmed Souness. "It's a worry.

"We think his shoulder is semi-popping out and that can be as bad as it popping out all of the way. Ultimately, if that is the problem, it would need some sort of surgery.

"He trained (on Thursday) and fell over in a fairly orthodox fashion, but that was enough to give him a bit of pain. It looks as though there's something going on there.

"The shirt was his. He was playing very well for us, before getting injured training for England Under-21s. We'll be seeking compensation from the FA."

In the meantime, Newcastle will have to soldier on with the much-maligned Bramble and the equally error-prone Jean-Alain Boumsong.

The pair were roundly criticised by two of Souness' former team-mates, Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson, during last weekend's edition of 'Match of the Day'. But, after defending Bramble despite his last-minute concession of a penalty against Villa, the Magpies manager turned the tables.

"Titus was outstanding for me in the second half of last season," he said. "That's the level he has to get back to.

"They (Bramble and Boumsong) are big boys and criticism is part and parcel of our business. But it's very simple to sit in a studio and re-run things over and over again. You could do that with anybody in any game of football you choose.

"Everybody makes mistakes and the players know when they've done something wrong. They don't need the experts to remind them of that. I can remember those so-called experts making mistakes of their own as well."

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