NEWCASTLE United's Kieron Dyer faces a fitness battle for this Saturday's trip to Blackburn Rovers after having to withdraw from the England squad.

Dynamic Dyer returned to Tyneside yesterday for intensive treatment after suffering a recurrence of a back problem picked up in the win over Slovakia on Saturday.

And now the 23-year-old will miss tomorrow's Euro 2004 qualifier with Macedonia at Southampton's St Mary's stadium and he faces a fight to be fit for the Premiership clash at Ewood Park.

The former Ipswich man trained with the rest of Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad yesterday morning, but later had to withdraw with a slight back strain.

It is yet another set back for Dyer, who has been plagued with serious knee and shin injuries over the past 18 months.

His withdrawal from the clash with Macedonia is the second time in a month that he has had to pull out of an England game.

Nearly four weeks ago Dyer had to miss the friendly with Portugal when he suffered a recurrence of shin pains in the Magpies' dramatic 2-2 draw at Liverpool.

It was feared that Dyer, who has underwent two operations for a stress fracture of the shin over the past year and half, would face yet another extended injury exile.

But he soon returned back to fitness and Newcastle chief Sir Bobby Robson will be hoping his schemer can regain fitness for this weekend's trip to Blackburn.

Also back in the North-East is Dyer's clubmate Andy O'Brien.

The centre-back has returned to the region after pulling out of the Republic of Ireland squad to face Switzerland with a hamstring injury.

And, like Dyer, the hope is that O'Brien can recover in time ahead of Saturday.

Newcastle striker Lomana LuaLua, meanwhile, has escaped another club versus country row by seeing red for the Democratic Republic of Congo.

LuaLua left Robson a man down last month when he opted to play for Congo against Libya at the last moment.

The former Colchester man was then dropped by Newcastle chief Robson for the clash with Leeds United.

But LuaLua was sent off playing for Congo against Botswana over the weekend and he will now miss the African Nations Qualifier in Swaziland at the end of March.

Meanwhile, winger Sebastian Pardo has revealed he knew of Newcastle's interest in him.

Pardo has recently signed for Feyenoord from Universidad de Chile and he is delighted with the move.

However, Pardo is understood to have clauses in his contract allowing him to talk to other clubs who come in with a substantial bid.

But he is happy after completing the switch to the Dutch giants, who are in Newcastle's Champions' League group.

"I've known about the link with Newcastle," he said. "But my mind is only on Feyenoord.

"They opened me the doors in Europe and now I want to win things with them."

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