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Carver Going The Extra Mile
Written by Newcastle Utd
John Carver will be at Leicester's match against Chelsea on Wednesday after watching Newcastle's under-21s at Derby on Tuesday
By Dan King - Newcastle United Digital Editor
John Carver is going the extra mile to improve Newcastle United's fortunes in the final four matches of the season.
The Magpies' head coach made the 348-mile round trip to Derby on Tuesday to watch Siem de Jong play his first 90 minutes for the under-21s since returning to action following surgery to correct a collapsed lung.
And on Wednesday, ahead of the weekend's crucial game against in-form Leicester, he and first team coach Steve Stone will make the even longer journey to the King Power Stadium to take in the Foxes' match against league leaders Chelsea.
Carver and Stone will then be back on the training pitch on Thursday and Friday to prepare the players for the fixture against Nigel Pearson's side, with the Magpies looking for a first win in eight games.
"It's a very important week and it needs to be done," Carver told nufcTV.
"Nigel has got a bit of stick with people saying 'what team are you going to put out?' but it's his prerogative.
"He's the manager of the football club and he can put whatever team he wants out. If he thinks he can get a result - and they've had some great results of recent times - then he'll put whatever team he thinks is best.
"We can't afford to worry about that. I'll be there to run a rule over the game and see what we can pick out of it.
"It might give us some idea of what team he will play on Saturday because it's a quick turnaround."
Carver will welcome Moussa Sissoko back from suspension and is hopeful that Paul Dummett could also come back into contention having been sidelined since February with a knee injury.
And although a United second-string featuring two full debutants lost 4-0 at Derby on Tuesday, De Jong's involvement made it a worthwhile trip for Carver.
"I think it's important that I come and see our players that are competing to get into the first team," he explained.
"Along with Siem, we had Facundo Ferreyra, Adam Armstrong and Olivier Kemen so there's four players who have been involved with the first team recently.
"From a psychological point of view, it was very important that (De Jong) got 90 minutes. He got through the 90 minutes without any problems and he's now got three or four days to recover.
"Hopefully he will be involved at Leicester at the weekend.
"As we saw on Saturday, he's a goalscorer and we need goalscorers at the moment. So it's great that he got through 90 minutes and he'll be raring to go.
"But what I won't do is throw him in at the deep end. I'll have a conversation with him, see how he feels in the next 48 hours and then see where we go for the weekend."
Click here to watch the nufcTV interview with John Carver