ROB ELLIOT will be in Newcastle United’s starting line-up at Bournemouth this lunchtime, with Steve McClaren adamant it is not a risk to play the goalkeeper despite his persistent thigh troubles.

Elliot has come through three full training sessions unscathed, enabling McClaren to retain him in his starting XI and avoid the need to make a formal approach to the Premier League for an emergency loan signing.

At the start of the week, it had looked like the 29-year-old would be struggling to make today’s game after suffering a recurrence of his thigh injury in last weekend’s goalless draw with Stoke City.

However, it quickly became apparent that his problem was not as severe as first feared, and while Newcastle officials made tentative inquiries about the possibility of a loan deal, a short-term addition was never really in McClaren’s thoughts.

With Tim Krul and Karl Darlow both injured, untried teenager Freddie Woodman will continue to provide the only cover to Elliot at Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium, but McClaren is relieved not to be making major changes as he looks to guide the Magpies to their first away win since January.

“We’re as certain (about Elliot’s fitness) as we can be every week,” said the Newcastle head coach, who is hoping Darlow will be available by the end of the forthcoming international break. “He has come through most things in training and, in the situation we’re in, he’s good enough to play.

“We didn’t get close to applying (for a loan) really. We gave him (Elliot) an opportunity on Monday, and he came in nice and bright. We said, ‘Okay, we’ll give you a chance to get fit’, and he’s done that.”

With Daryl Janmaat also having shaken off the knock he sustained in last weekend’s stalemate, McClaren is expected to name an unchanged line-up on the south coast.

Newcastle’s longest trip of the season became even more problematic when today’s game was selected for live television coverage on BT Sport, with the supporters’ coaches leaving at around 3am in the morning in order to make it to Bournemouth in time for the 12.45pm kick-off.

Despite the inconvenience, the Magpies have still sold out their allocation of 1,365 away tickets, and after a string of disappointing displays on the road this season, McClaren has challenged his players to ensure the travelling contingent from the North-East do not have a wasted trip.

Newcastle begin the weekend a point behind Bournemouth in the table, and will be guaranteed to leave the relegation zone if they can claim all three points this afternoon.

“We’ll be making the players aware that they’ve (the fans) had an extremely early start and it’s a heck of a long way,” said McClaren. “We owe it to them – the attitude’s got to be right to give them a display and a performance ahead of the long journey back.

“The fans have been fantastic so far. We called for patience from day one, and they’ve been great. The players have been commenting about that, and we’ve tried to connect with them and embrace that. It’s difficult when we’ve not been winning, but we’ll continue to persevere.”

Bournemouth proved to be a thorn in McClaren’s side last season as they claimed the Championship title while the current Newcastle boss’ much-fancied Derby County side finished outside the play-off places.

Beyond the confines of the Football League, the Cherries’ promotion was regarded as a huge surprise, but to those who had been observing their progress over the previous couple of years, their success was much less of a shock.

McClaren expected them to be part of the promotion picture from an early stage of last season, with the input of their highly-rated young manager, Eddie Howe, a key factor in their rise to the top-flight.

“I always thought they might get there,” he said. “The players might not know them very well, but we (the coaching staff) know them well. Two seasons ago I thought they were very good, and they’ve improved a lot since then.

“Callum Wilson was a good signing, and they will miss him (because he is injured), but I thought they were one of the top sides in the Championship last season.

“Eddie has done a fantastic job there. He plays the game the right way, with the right style, temperament and emotional control. He’s found a home at Bournemouth, and he’s got them playing very well.”

Nevertheless, Newcastle will kick off this lunch-time confident of securing a much-needed victory, despite having failed to score in either of their last two games.

“We really think we’re going in the right direction now,” added McClaren. “Sometimes, you have to believe, and we do.

“We have to continue with that confidence and belief, but it’s also about getting results and we know that. Eventually, you need to get results to keep that belief going, and we obviously hope that will come.”