Pardew Glad Of Tiote Fitness Boost

By Tom Easterby

Cheick Tiote could be welcomed back into the Newcastle United squad for Saturday's Barclays Premier League trip to Southampton (3pm kick-off).

The Ivorian midfielder, who has been struggling with a hamstring injury, played for his country against Sierra Leone and Cameroon during the international break.

Magpies manager Alan Pardew hopes the 28-year-old enforcer will return free of injury, and said he may make a comeback should he prove his fitness.

"Hopefully he's okay," said Pardew, who also confirmed that Jack Colback has recovered from the knock which kept him sidelined for England.

"I wouldn't have thought (Cheick will be ready to start), not after not having a game and then playing two 90-minute games for his country, but he'll certainly be in the squad if he's fit, for sure.

"I think it is important because what Cheick gives us is a winning mentality, and sometimes that overspills a bit in the odd tackle and yellow card here and there, but his focus is to win games and that drive from midfield is probably the strength of this team.

"We've got Jack Colback in there, we've got Moussa Sissoko, we've got Vurnon and, of course, Cheick."

There will be a number of notable absentees from the United squad for the journey to the south coast, including young winger Rolando Aarons, who played - and scored - on his England Under-20 debut earlier this week.

Pardew confirmed the Jamaica-born flier picked up an injury while on international duty and will be unable to add to his maiden top-flight goal, which he grabbed a fortnight ago against Crystal Palace.

"He's injured - he's hurt his hamstring coming back from England," said Pardew.

"We're disappointed with that because of course he was flying and we're going to have to try and prepare him now to get him back into the training group, but that is another blow to us this week."

Summer signing Siem de Jong is also out through a thigh injury, and Pardew wouldn't be drawn on precisely how long his side will have to do without the former Ajax captain.

"It's difficult to assess really," said the boss.

"I think it's whether he has an operation on the injury, which we'll probably determine this week, but I would suggest that he certainly won't be back for about three months. After that, it could be any time really."

One bright spot, however, was the imminent return to training of striker Papiss Cisse.

The Senagalese hit man missed the entirety of pre-season with a serious knee injury but is nearing a return and could be back in action in weeks rather than months.

"He has a deficiency in his muscle on that side where he's had the operation. That's just a process of building it up," explained Pardew.

"He is working hard to get training-fit really, and then we need to take it from there, but I don't think he's too far away. I would suggest that he'd be training with us in the next couple of weeks."