PAPISS CISSE has been identified as one of Newcastle United’s biggest hopes in the battle to keep Premier League football on Tyneside next season by head coach John Carver.

The Magpies head to already relegated Queens Park Rangers on Saturday knowing a victory at Loftus Road could be enough to safeguard top-flight status if Hull lose at Tottenham.

In a bid to try to claim maximum points at QPR, Carver could be willing to turn to Cisse from the start despite concerns over his fitness which have been hanging around for the majority of the campaign.

The 29-year-old was used as a substitute for the final 21 minutes of last weekend’s 1-1 draw with West Brom, but Carver knows how crucial his 11-goal leading scorer could be for the final two games if results elsewhere go against them.

“Cisse could be huge,” said Carver. “What we have to bear in mind is the fact that he was supposed to be out for 12-14 weeks and because of his personality, he actually got himself back fitter and quicker than we thought.

“He didn't have any football before he played last weekend, behind-closed-doors or Under-21 football, so that was his first bit of football in eight weeks and I thought he did OK when he came on.

“But as we all know, the Premier League for 90 minutes is quite vigorous, so I'm thinking about what I'm going to do for the weekend. I know – I'm not going to tell you – but he's definitely involved and in a better place after having a week's training.”

As well as the doubts surrounding his knee, Cisse’s outing against West Brom was his first after a seven-match suspension for spitting at Manchester United’s Jonny Evans.

But Carver, whose contract as head coach only runs until the end of the season, needs every bit of help he can to keep Newcastle in the Premier League having slipped to just a place above the bottom three.

He confirmed that Siem de Jong and Adam Armstrong will definitely miss out through injury, but Gabriel Obertan is in contention to play.

Carver said: “The spirit has been good, it's been upbeat, but we are not taking our eye off the ball because we haven't done a job yet. There's a huge job in front of us, starting with Saturday and then the following Sunday, so we need to stay focused.”