The defender is currently recovering from an injury he pickedup against West Brom at the beginning of the year. He didn’t name a specific date to make a comeback but indicated an appearance before the end of the season was likely, he told a BBC reporter.

Once again he repeated his loyality to the Black n White shirt saying that he never had intentions to leave the club and wished to help it get back up in the Premiership. Taylor is one of the stand out players this season so us fans alike are glad that he didn’t go anywhere.

Some clinical finishing against Watford and Barnsley allowed us to grab full points. Most impressively was the scoreline against Barnsley which saw 6 goals in the net with Gutierrez scoring and then donning his famous Spider-man mask. However, the team performed like superheroes in particular a spectacular effort by Danny Gutherie. Both high scorers; Lovenkrands and Nolan also appeared on the scoresheet. It goes to show that confidence is in the Newcastle camp which means that Boro will be in for a tough ride at the Riverside.

Despite the fact that there are still several games left in the season, praise is coming in at how the team has composed themselves in the Championship. Legend, Alan Shearer said the team were “magnificent” yesterday. He also singled out Hughton for particular praise.  Today,  Jack Charlton backed Hughton to take Newcastle back to the Premiership

He told the Chronicle in an  interview:

“It seems like everybody in Newcastle is surprised.

“Chris was a background boy and more of a trainer and looking after things on the training pitch.

“He was more instituted than anything.

“But he’s proved himself to be a good manager, a good number one and he deserves some credit.

“Chris for me was a great lad, he was my left-back and played for me on several occasions for the Irish national team.

“He was terrific.”

We all scratched our heads when Fergie employed Owen but should we be gloating at the latest injury episode? Well, maybe but one thing with some certainty is that Michael Owen will not  be playing in a ManU shirt next season.

A different story for Andy Carroll who suffered the indignity of going to court on assault charges today.  However, he will probably feature anyway on Saturday as the outcome of that trial will be some weeks away.

So what of Watford? They managed to scrap out a convincing win against Bristol City at Vicarage Road recently and they have a good home record.  Their away form disappoints and Newcastle finished them off back in December a win and clean sheet.

UPDATE: No new injury news ahead of the game tomorrow. The stats reveal some other gems like against Watford, Newcastle remain unbeaten in six matches. If we win, Newcastle will inflict the first double win against Watford this season:)

If anyone has any suggestions for team line up?

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A source for the Journal puts it:

“You can not lose £50m in revenue and expect not to have to take a hit, particularly when you have the overheads Newcastle have.

“The wage bill was reduced, but it’s still way too big for the Championship.”

Indeed last summer, United managed to cut the wage bill significantly whilst keeping enough talent at the club to drive for promotion. A tactic that is currently working. A further £20m loan to the club was able to be used to pick up additional players in January.

The big question is how Ashley will recoup the loan and his money? Chances are he’ll sell up when we head back the Premiership. This means that failure to get promoted is not an option for either Ashley or the club.

The first team to fall was Conventry on Wednesday night. Some superb play by Routledge cancelled out Clinton Morrision’s first goal two minutes later. Routledge’s debut goal for the club inspired further as we demolished Conventry by 4 goals by the end. The match this weekend saw another home fixture against mid-table Preston. Lovenkrands opened up the goal account for the day with a lucky shot which probably was intended as a cross into the box. No matter as the Great Dane bagged his 2nd goal in a space of a week. Super-sub , Ryan Taylor also managed the same feat with a late goal to seal the deal making it 3-0 for Newcastle.

Chris Hughton finally got some recognisation from the fans with the chant of ‘There’s only one Chris Hughton’. He may not be the most charismatic of managers but his efforts in getting promotion for Newcastle has been second-to-none.  I think the team’s goal now is to win this league and that is certainly a possibility.

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It’s still tight at the top now with Nottingham Forest now entering a loss of form but the gulf between the play off and automatic promotion places is only 2 points! Newcastle aren’t making it easier for themselves. A loss against Derby and then a draw against Swansea didn’t bode well. However, it’s not a time to declare all is about to crumble. It looks to me that the race will be much more tighter then what we had experienced at the beginning of the year.

Newcastle United are hit by some fresh injury worries as Shola Ameobi picks up a hamstring. He’ll probably be out for two weeks for our regular injury room resident. Also out are Enrique and Nicky Butt.

As for Coventry, they are on a good run and it’ll be a fight to keep our unbeaten home record intact. Our last encounter in December saw us beat Coventry by 2 goals on their home turf and we have a good record of beating them. Our home advantage for tonight should add a little more to our resolve to better ourselves after some rather timid displays of late. We expect Leon Best will be in tonight’s line up. Andy Carroll, the hero who scored the late equaliser on Saturday will have his usual starting place.

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Of the night’s loss, Hughton summed it up:

“Of course it’s a blow because it’s something we’ve had all season but that doesn’t deter from the fact that the objective this season is to get promotion, whichever way we do that.

“The fact we’ve been where we’ve been all season means we’ve been one of the best three teams in the division for most of the season, and for most of it we’ve been the best team.”

Whilst some may hit the panic button, I’m not extremely worried about this result. A four month unbeaten stretch was bound to end at some point and a bad game only serves a reminder that the team can’t be complacent at this stage. We’ve got some tough fixtures still ahead of us and Newcastle will put focus back in keeping the opposition goals out. Fair enough, Coloccini and Taylor are out but what are all the new loan signings about if they are not there to defend? I still got the faith!

Our next fixture will be against Swansea on Saturday where fans would certainly expect Newcastle to turn up the heat.

Hughton has some choices to make. Alan Smith goes back into contention for a midfield slot whilst Butty remains sidelined again. Coloccini will also play no part in this match. Other then that players are fit and Hughton will probably put all six new signings in. Leon Best will most likely start again after coming close to getting a first goal in Black n White on his debut on Friday. He’ll play along Carroll, whose place will be safe despite having to be in court this month. Let’s hope he’ll stay focused on the job in hand as he’s probably the only player most likely to wear the #9 shirt in future if he keeps knocking ‘em in!

Looking at the stats, it seems we are most likely to get something from this game. Derby have not managed to beat a top 10 side this season other then a woeful Nottingham Forest. Newcastle fans will be hoping for a repeat performance of Friday’s spectacular score line.

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However, some storm clouds on the horizon as today, Carroll has been charged today for a fracas that happened last year in December. The incident involved a reveller inside the Blu Bambu club in Newcastle’s Bigg Market.  He’ll be put before magistrates at the end of the month. If found guilty, it could mean community service or a short prison term for the 21 year old.