Alexander Isak injury status ahead of Newcastle United vs Manchester City

Isak has only managed to score a single goal in five Premier League matches this season and did not even record a shot on target in Newcastle's recent 3-1 loss to Fulham.

The Sweden international required a pain-killing injection to play against Fulham and has not trained this week ahead of City’s visit to St James’ Park for Saturday’s early klick-off in the Premier League.

Speaking at his press conference on Friday, Howe indicated that Anthony Gordon will play in a central role in Newcastle’s attack if Isak is unavailable.

When asked for the latest on Newcastle’s injuries, Howe said: ‘No, I don’t think we have anyone coming back who has been out.

‘Matt Targett has had a flare up of eczema, he’s been nursing that for the last couple of weeks, it’s been quite a bad episode for him, so we’re hoping to get him back training today but he won’t be involved in the game.

‘Then we’ve got the long-term injured. In terms of fresh injuries, Alex is still nursing that toe problem.’

When asked directly if Isak is a doubt for the game against City, Howe replied: ‘Yeah, he’d be a doubt for tomorrow.

‘He trained last week before the Fulham game on the Friday, he had an injection in his toe to play.

‘He felt fine but then he started to feel his toe in the last five to ten minutes in that game, then after the game it sort of stiffened up.

‘It wasn’t in a great place early in the week, he hasn’t trained yet so we’ll have to make a decision again as to whether he trains today or he misses the game.’

Asked what his options will be if Isak is absent, Howe said: ‘Yeah, I think Anthony [Gordon] we always viewed him as our third striker, in a sense.

‘He’ll play very differently to Callum [Wilson] and Alex because he’s not your sort of out-and-out line leader but he’s very, very clever at what he does when he plays in that role.

‘I think he did well against Wolves in the second half, he’s more of a drifter in terms of his position so he won’t necessarily be the focal point but he’s certainly got the pace to run in behind and the ability to link play, so he’ll play it slightly looser but he can still be very effective.’

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