Chris Hughton hoping injured trio return for Chelsea match

Mar 31 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

NEWCASTLE United’s injured trio are making good progress ahead of the visit of Chelsea to St James’s Park – but Chris Hughton expects their fitness battle to go down to the wire.

United’s caretaker boss is refusing to rule out the possibility of Sébastien Bassong, Steven Taylor and Damien Duff all playing against the title-chasing Blues – and will hand all three fitness tests on Friday before deciding whether they will be able to play a part in the crucial game.

It would be a surprise if either Taylor or Bassong recover in time to play given the initial prognosis on their ankle and groin injuries, but Hughton said both had been making better progress than expected.

He will give Duff, who injured his hamstring while training on international duty, “every opportunity” to prove his fitness and is cautiously optimistic that the winger will play some part against the Blues.

Those are the only injury concerns for Hughton, who says that Michael Owen’s fitness has benefited from not being included in Fabio Capello’s England squad. He is likely to be handed a recall for the Chelsea game after his improving condition impressed Hughton.

“At this particular moment we have three players who could go either way,” Hughton said. “The main questions are on Bassong and Taylor. Both are making progress, obviously they need to continue making progress for the rest of the week.

“Certainly we’re not ruling them out of any game – if they make good enough progress it’d be a nice pleasant surprise for us. Saturday is still a possibility.

“Some individuals react better to treatment than others – we’re hopeful that that’s the case with both of them.

“With Damien, his type of injury is a seven to ten-day injury. It is a glute injury – not where we first thought it was. That is

the good news, it’s not long-term. We will give him every opportunity and I can see that one going down to the last day. From a fitness point of view it’s not a problem for him to play, even though he’ll miss a period of training. That one will go down to the last couple of days.”