NEWCASTLE UNITED are banking on a number of players proving their fitness before the weekend as the club’s crippling injury-list blights preparations for the visit of Norwich City.

Steve McClaren, the Magpies boss, hopes a maximum of five players from the 13 in the treatment room can show sufficient progress to be in his thinking to face the Canaries.

But there are no certainties, even though Daryl Janmaat, Jack Colback, Paul Dummett and Massadio Haidara are making progress. Kevin Mbabu also has an outside chance.

McClaren is in desperate need of some positive news after starting the week by learning that his side’s No 1 Tim Krul will miss the rest of the season with the anterior knee ligament injury he sustained on duty for Holland.

Assistant manager Paul Simpson said: “We are confident that Daryl Janmaat will come through this week and be fit for Sunday.

“Jack Colback has started to build up his training and we are hoping he will be OK. Paul Dummett and Massadio Haidara, they are both starting to build their fitness up and there is a possibility that they may be involved.

“Further back down the line, Rolando Aarons, we are hoping he will join in training next week. Gabriel Obertan is still a few weeks away.

“Kevin Mbabu – we are keeping our fingers crossed that he may have a chance for the weekend, but that is possibly going to be one week too early, we will assess that as we go along.”

Clearly those players’ inclusion in the Newcastle squad to face Norwich is far from certain and it has also emerged second-choice goalkeeper Karl Darlow is a month away from recovering from his ankle problem.

That means Rob Elliot, who has returned from international duty with the Republic of Ireland, will start and teenager Freddie Woodman will be on the bench after playing for the England Under-18s against Italy.

Simpson told the club’s website: “We’ve got a lot of faith in Rob Elliot and we’ve recalled Freddie back from Crawley – we’ve got a lot of faith in him as a young goalkeeper.

“It’s something we’ve got to deal with, and the big thing that we’ve got to do now is keep Tim Krul’s head right, make sure we look after him, make sure he gets the best possible care and attention that we possibly can get for him.”

Krul will undergo surgery at the earliest opportunity and McClaren admits the Holland international’s absence will be a big miss.

The Newcastle boss said: "Tim is a big part of us - he's a big player, a leader in the dressing room, and his goal was to establish himself in the Dutch side going forward.

"We will miss him for the rest of the season, and he loses seven or eight months of his career. It's going to be a very difficult time for him but Tim is strong, single-minded and he will come back from this injury.”