Howe hoping to have Joelinton available for Liverpool clash

United welcome Jurgen Klopp's men to Tyneside hoping to bounce back from last weekend's 1-0 defeat to reigning champions Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

The Brazilian midfielder limped off during that loss but despite sitting out training earlier in the week, Howe is hopeful he will be fit enough to play a part against the Reds, who were the only side to do the double over Newcastle last term.

The Magpies boss also spoke about another midfielder, Joe Willock, and the work he is putting in in order to return to action, while Howe also discussed his latest recruit Lewis Hall, who checked in on loan from Chelsea earlier this week.

Here are some of the topics that were up for discussion at Friday morning's media briefing at United's Benton training centre:

On Joelinton's availability after he hobbled off against City last time out...

"Joe is fine. We didn't see him in the first part of the week, but he's trained in the latter part, so fingers crossed he's OK."

On Joe Willock's ongoing recovery from a hamstring problem...

"He's making good progress. I'd say this is the strongest he's looked, in terms of his hamstring. I think he had his hamstring rescanned a couple of days ago and the report back on that scan was very, very good - no problems.

"He had a bit of fatigue in his hamstring - I don't think there's a major re-injury, but he's done really well, he's committed to his work. We hope that he'll be training with us around the international break time."

On full back Javier Manquillo, who has returned to training at Benton...

"He's back with us. He went for a period of treatment abroad, but he's back and we hope he'll train today."

On new arrival Lewis Hall, who could make his Magpies debut this weekend, and the versatility he offers United...

"He played against us a couple of times last year, and he impressed me, as someone so young, to come into those situations and perform the way he did. Preparing for those games, we watched a lot of Chelsea and he'd just broken in before our first game I believe, and he caught my eye immediately. I really liked his attitude, how he played the game, his physical attributes, his technical attributes, so I think he's going to be a good signing for us.

"I think he has the attributes to play in many different positions. He's only recently in his career converted to left back, so I think he's probably had a year training and playing there. But he's also played as a number eight, a number six, left wing, wing-back, left back, and even for England he's played as a centre back in a back three and a back four I believe. There's real versatility, and that was one of the attractions for us, because going into this season where we're going to need as many players as we can to play different positions."

On Klopp's Liverpool, last season's games against them and their changing make-up after a number of summer signings...

"These games are iconic, really, throughout the Premier League, the Newcastle-Liverpool battles. Last year we were disappointed in the two defeats for us. The one at Anfield was a difficult night - the last minute of that game has been replayed in my mind many times. The game at home was also painful in a different way, probably more painful for Nick (Pope_ in what happened for him, missing the (Carabao) cup final. It was a day where we didn't start very well but I thought we played very well with ten men against 11.

"There's slight tweaks (in Liverpool's set-up) I'd say - I don't think the main principles have changed. They're still very, very good at what the have been historically good at for the last four or five years. (They're a) very difficult team to play against, but they are building a new team, you would say, with slightly different characteristics in midfield. They're an elite team with an elite manager, they're very, very good and they're going to come back strong, for sure. We know this is a really good early test for us, following on from Manchester City and Aston Villa."

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Eddie Howe's pre-Liverpool media briefing in full