Newcastle face selection issues ahead of tough Liverpool test

NEWCASTLE: Head coach Eddie Howe is facing a real selection crisis as Newcastle United’s unbeaten start to the season faces its sternest test so far against Liverpool.

The Magpies head to Anfield on Wednesday having avoided defeat in all five games so far this season but will be without a number of key players. In addition they are still awaiting the green light, in the form of a work permit, for club record buy Alexander Isak to play.

United will again be without Bruno Guimaraes, Callum Wilson and Jonjo Shelvey, and added to the absentee list this week are Allan Saint-Maximin, Emil Krafth and Manchester United-bound Martin Dubravka.

“We have a few injuries at the moment, that’s obvious. I don’t think any of them are long-term apart from Emil,” said Howe.

“We’re hopeful we will get the main body of the squad back fit pretty quickly. Certainly for this game, we’re slightly stretched.”

He added that in particular, he does not expect the influential Guimaraes to be out of action for long.

“He’s doing well,” Howe said of the Brazilian international. “I don’t know about this game coming up but hopefully not far after, if he doesn’t make this game. He’s very positive, in good spirits and desperate to get back and be involved.

“He’s a big player for us and we need to get him back as quickly as possible. It’s a slight hamstring. (Against) Tranmere, we brought him on for five minutes at the end in case we needed him to take a penalty. We wanted him to be warm enough to take that penalty; we didn’t want to bring him on with 10 seconds left. At that stage of the game we were under pressure and, unfortunately, he felt something in his hamstring.”

Howe expressed more concern about Saint-Maximin, who was United’s savior in