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De Jong To Continue Comeback
Written by Newcastle Utd
Siem de Jong will play for Newcastle's under-21s at Aston Villa on Monday night as he continues to close in on a first-team return
By Dan King - Newcastle United Digital Editor
Aston Villa reached the FA Cup final with victory over Liverpool on Sunday, but Newcastle United's under-21s will aim to bring them back down to earth on Monday night.
Peter Beardsley's Magpies travel to Villa Park for a 7pm kick-off, and Siem de Jong is included in the squad as he continues his comeback from lung surgery.
The Dutchman played for 45 minutes at St. James' Park against Derby County's second-string on Wednesday and told nufcTV: "Physically, it was alright.
"I'm almost back but I just feel I missed the last five per cent in terms of explosiveness and things like that. Sometimes you want to make an action and you're just not that explosive yet.
"I have to work on that in the coming days and weeks. We've trained hard until now but I'm still building up.
"I'm not there yet but I'm getting there. We haven't discussed when I'll be back but I hope to be back on the bench against Swansea depending how it goes in the coming days.
"We'll see how it goes - I still have to get a little bit stronger, a little bit more explosive and a little faster so hopefully I can work on that."
Also making the trip to Villa Park are Adam Armstrong - a late substitute for the first team against Tottenham on Sunday - and Facundo Ferreyra.
Jamie Sterry and Olivier Kemen were both unused substitutes against Spurs and will play against Villa while Lubo Satka returns after missing the last game to sit exams in his native Slovakia.
Tickets, costing £2 for adults and £1 concessions, can be bought from the Trinity Road kiosk from 5.30pm.
There will also be Twitter updates at @NUFC, a report on nufc.co.uk and post-match reaction on nufcTV.