EDDIE Howe says it's "touch and go" whether Joe Willock will be fit and available for Newcastle United for Sunday's Carabao Cup final, with the head coach expecting to have to make a late decision on the midfielder.
Willock missed Saturday's Premier League defeat to Liverpool with a hamstring problem and although the injury is improving, it's too early for Howe to know whether the ex-Arsenal man will be ready for the Wembley final.
"He'll be touch and go during the week," revealed Howe, when he spoke to reporters on Tuesday afternoon.
"He's improved, it will probably be a late decision on him."
While Newcastle closely monitor Willock's condition, they will be boosted by the return of Bruno Guimaraes, who has served his three-match suspension.
Howe said: "He's OK, he's good. He's been really disappointed to miss the last few games and has felt very frustrated not to help the team. But he's back and in a good place."
Howe also looks set to be able to welcome Matt Targett back into the squad. The full-back has been working his way back to fitness from a heel injury and returned to action for the Under-21s last week.
"Matt Targett has improved a lot," said Howe.
"We thought it was wise to leave him out of the (Liverpool) game and build his fitness, I was really pleased with what he did. I'd say he'll be available for selection."
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Though naturally disappointed with the result against Liverpool, Howe took plenty of positives from the performance, which makes his team selection for the final difficult.
He said: "I think I do have some decisions to make for the game. Whenever you have a game like this that decision will be difficult because you'll be disappointing some players that you love, so that's always difficult. But I'd much rather have those options than no options at all.
"Maxi (Allan Saint-Maximin) and Alex (Alexander Isak) played really well together (vs Liverpool). The team functioned really well with 10 men against a world class team, so I was really pleased with a lot on Saturday. I was disappointed with the goals conceded, which is very unlike us. We really have to put all of that to one side for this one-off game."
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