MICHAEL Owen will make a surprise appearance in the Newcastle squad for tomorrow afternoon's home game with Everton - just seven days after undergoing a hernia operation that was supposed to keep him sidelined for up to a month.

And with Steve McClaren having named Owen in his England squad yesterday, Sam Allardyce has admitted he is powerless to prevent the striker playing in both of this month's crucial European Championships qualifiers against Estonia and Russia.

Despite only returning from surgery in Munich last weekend, Owen took part in a full training session with the rest of his Newcastle team-mates yesterday.

The 27-year-old will be assessed by the Magpies medical staff this morning and, provided there have been no adverse reactions overnight, he will train again later today.

That will enable him to be named in Newcastle's 16-man squad for tomorrow's Premier League clash with Everton and, while he is expected to start on the substitutes' bench, Owen could even be thrown straight back into the starting line-up as United look to maintain their unbeaten home record.

"Michael trained with the lads for the first time (yesterday morning)," revealed Allardyce, who was also able to watch Claudio Cacapa prove his fitness following a groin problem of his own. "That was very encouraging. We'll assess him (later today) and, if there are no problems, he will join in training again and be available for selection on Sunday.

"His recovery has been very good, but we always knew it would be, based on the surgeon that we sent him to.

"It was always going to be better to put a longer time on it rather than a shorter one because, when it eventually comes in shorter, it's better for everyone concerned. If you give a player a diagnosis that he's going to be fit in seven days and he's not fit for two weeks, it can be extremely negative for them.

"The surgeon (Ulrike Muschaweck) has done a terrific job again and it looks as though the adductor has healed up as well. As long as there's no reaction he'll be available."

While Owen's return represents a considerable boost to a Newcastle side who have slipped to tenth in the Premier League table, the speed of the striker's recovery will be even more welcome within the England camp.

With Emile Heskey unavailable because of a broken metatarsal, McClaren had looked like going into arguably the two biggest games of his reign without both of the strikers who contributed to last month's back-to-back wins over Israel and Russia.

Owen's return allows him to pair England's fourth leading goalscorer of all time with arguably the squad's second most likely match-winner, Wayne Rooney, and given the importance of this month's double-header, Allardyce accepts that Newcastle's record signing is likely to start both matches.

He will, however, arrive at England's training base with a warning.

"Steve has two qualifying matches coming up and Michael Owen is his number one," said Allardyce, who is also disappointed that both Emre and Stephen Carr have been called up for international duty despite having made just three Premier League starts between them all season. "In one sense, that makes it an easy decision for Steve to make.

"But it would certainly benefit Michael if he could take things slowly. We'll tell the England camp what the situation is and make sure they're aware of it, but we can only point out the dangers and hope common sense prevails.

"If Michael is fit for us then I suppose he's fit for England. Clinically, he's fit, but the old history of the illness is obviously still there in the background and we want to make sure that he's fit for a lengthy run of games."

Nevertheless, Allardyce can hardly complain too vociferously if, as expected, Owen is involved in Newcastle's latest bout of domestic action tomorrow.

Having slipped to a comprehensive 3-1 defeat at Manchester City last weekend, the Magpies manager is looking for his side to rediscover some of their fluency against a side that made an energy-sapping trip to the Ukraine earlier this week.

Everton successfully made the UEFA Cup group stages after a 3-2 win over Metalist Kharkiv but, while the Toffees will hardly be short of confidence as a result, Allardyce is hoping their midweek exertions could work to Newcastle's advantage.

"I watched Everton on Thursday," he explained. "They overcame some difficult problems through a change of tactics and a lot of grit and determination. I think they got shocked into playing well in the end.

"They thought, 'Jesus, we're going to get knocked out in the qualifying round and that's going to be embarrassing for Everton Football Club'. That spurred them into coming through and winning the game. Twice coming back from a goal behind to win 3-2 must have been such a great feeling for them.

"It will mean they come into Sunday's game on a high but, from our point of view, it will probably mean that not all of that side will be playing at the weekend. Some of the players will be, though, and if they're fatigued, we have to try to take advantage of that."