CALLUM WILSON and Kieran Trippier have both been lined up for a return to action in Sunday’s game at Manchester City.

The Newcastle duo have both been absent for a number of months, but having recovered from their respective injuries, they have both featured in first-team training this week.

Wilson, who has recovered from a combination of calf and Achilles issues, is at a more advanced stage of his training programme, and is in contention for a starting spot at the Etihad as the Magpies look to put a major dent in Manchester City’s title hopes.

Trippier, who has had surgery to repair a fractured metatarsal, has not trained every day this week, but still be in the squad to face City.

Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe said: “Callum has trained all week. I’ve been really pleased with him, I think he’s trained really well.

“He’s had two really tough days, and he’s come through those days excellently. Physically, he looks very good, and he’s put a lot of work in to get to this point.

“I’m very pleased with the attitude, as always with Callum. He’s excellent with his work. He looks in a good place, and I think there’s a good chance he’ll be involved.

“Kieran has been slightly behind him this week, in the sense that he hasn’t trained every day. But when he has trained – and he trained yesterday – he trained very well. We’ll make a late decision on him.”

Newcastle have coped admirably without Trippier and Wilson, with Emil Krafth slotting in at right-back to cover for the former and Chris Wood arriving in January to replace the latter in attack.

However, the return of two established England internationals should still give the Magpies a timely boost as they look to bounce back from last weekend’s home defeat to Liverpool and finish strongly in the final three games of the campaign.

Howe said: “It’s incredible to have players of that quality come back into your squad. We’ve missed them – there’s no doubt about that. Not just as players, but also as personalities.

“I think everyone saw the impact Kieran had on the team, in a very short period of time. Not just with his performances, but with his leadership skills and how he helped players on the pitch during the game. To add that back into the training group this week has been a brilliant lift for everybody.”

Howe is also hoping Fabian Schar will be able to feature on Sunday despite the Swiss international having been unable to train this week because of the foot injury he sustained against Liverpool.

He said: “We haven’t seen him (Schar) yet this week. We hope that he will be back to be available, but we haven’t seen him yet. He got a knock on the top of his foot, so he went for a scan immediately after the game to make sure it wasn’t broken, because it had swelled up. But fortunately, there was no fracture.”