Carroll available for West Ham clash, says Bruce

The Magpies take on the Hammers at the London Stadium (kick-off 3pm GMT), and have been handed an attacking boost ahead of the trip to the capital with Bruce confirming the forward is fit to feature against his former club whilst midfielder Isaac Hayden also returns from suspension.

However, Sean Longstaff misses the trip through suspension and United will remain without the services of Matt Ritchie, who is recovering from an ankle injury sustained in August's Carabao Cup tie against Leicester City along with Fabian Schär, who sat out Newcastle's 1-1 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers with a knee problem.

Bruce said: "Andy Carroll has been training for the last couple of days. He'll come into the squad if he is stays okay today. It's still too early for Matt Ritchie and that goes for Fab Schär as well.

"We hope he can string a few weeks together on the training ground. It's a groin injury which is, thankfully, nothing to do with his ankle. I'm sure we'll keeping asking the question because it's Andy so we hope he'll remain okay. For this weekend, he is available for selection which is good. 

"We think maybe after this weekend and we'll see how he is, he (Fabian Schär) could be OK for Bournemouth. If not, we may have to wait after the international break. He has been sore for a while with his knee so we'll just have to wait and see but we don't think it's too serious.

"He (Florian Lejeune) is going to play again on Monday night at Aston Villa. We're hoping that he gets 75 or 80 minutes in that one. If he gets through that, we have a couple of weeks with the international break and hopefully after that he will be available."

West Ham sit in tenth place on 13 points, four points ahead of the Magpies, who themselves lie one point above the relegation zone.

Bruce addressed United's goal tally so far this season, with his side netting six times after their opening ten league fixtures, but has faith in the front line to start providing more goals in order to elevate his side up the league ladder.

The 58-year-old added: "It's an issue. It’s easy to do it in training but they’ve got to do it when the real ball comes out – that’s how you’re judged. The front three in particular are still settling in. We are aware of it and we have to improve but I think we’ll get there.

"I think we all feel as though we're not far off. We've put a few performances together for 45 minutes here and an hour there. They have to sustain it.

"We've had a couple of magic moments by beating Spurs and Man United. The consistency looks to have arrived defensively. We have to now be a bit more creative at the top end of the pitch.

"Two or three points separate a vast amount of teams so if you put back-to-back wins together, you shoot up the table. That's got to be our aim. West Ham are a good side with good players. Every team in the Premier League does and that's why it's difficult. We're quietly confident that we can go there and get a result.

"If you look at the table, Man United are sitting in seventh and they've only won three games so we're in and amongst them all. That's the way the league is - it's very competitive."

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Steve Bruce's pre-West Ham media briefing in full