Ryan Taylor hopes to be back in Newcastle training on Monday before making his first-team return against Wolves.
Injured Mr Versatile could be available to face Wolves
Ryan Taylor hopes to be back in Newcastle training on Monday before making his first-team return against Wolves.
It was feared the midfielder had suffered a broken bone in the victory over Aston Villa earlier in February after suffering a collision with Stephen Warnock.
But Taylor, whose versatility has seen him play 26 games in all competitions this season, escaped any fracture and, ahead of a scan on Thursday, is close to making his comeback.
With Newcastle out of the FA Cup, the former Wigan man expects to return to training at the beginning of next week ahead of the Premier League match against Wolves on 25th February.
"It is going well," he told
Sky Sports News of his recovery.
Ambitions
"I'm hoping to be back against Wolves and hoping to be back next Monday for full first-team training."
Alan Pardew's sixth-placed Newcastle were hammered 5-0 at Tottenham in the league in Taylor's absence and he does not want his club's season to implode.
The 27-year-old thinks anything less than qualifying for Europe would now be a disappointment for the St James' Park side after their surprisingly positive season.
"If we can stay in there and still keep getting results, I don't see why not," Taylor said of Newcastle's continental ambitions.
"That is the aim now. It wasn't at the start of the season. But there are 13 games to go and it is a massive aim for us.
"If we can achieve that, it will be some achievement, because so many people wrote us off before the start of the season."
