GRAEME Souness admits Steven Taylor is approaching crunch time as he bids to come back from a troublesome shoulder injury.
The young defender originally injured his shoulder while training with England under-21s back in October, and when he returned to full training with The Magpies last week, an awkward fall saw the joint pop out again.
Souness said: "Steven is in the situation now where he has to try the injury very soon.
"We will get him back into training soon, and it's at the stage where he has to test it.
"It's make or break for him. If it pops again, then he's looking at an operation which could see him on the sidelines for up to 10 weeks.
"That would be a huge blow for him, and us, but we're hoping it won't come to that. We'll have to wait and see though."
Souness travels to West Ham without Taylor, as well as Emre, Celestine Babayaro, Stephen Carr, Charles N'Zogbia, Kieron Dyer and Craig Moore.
But he hopes the injury situation will have eased over the next week or so.
"Emre, Stephen Carr and Baba will hopefully be ready in a week or so, as will young Charles.
"The situation with Kieron is assessed week by week, while Craig Moore has been to see the specialist Hans Mueller Wolfhart in Munich and he hopes to be back on a football field in 10 days to a fortnight.
"He has had a nightmare, so hopefully his problems will be at an end sooner rather than later."
