New injury update on Tino Livramento and 3 Newcastle stars ahead of Chelsea clash

Newcastle United are back in action at St James' Park tomorrow, taking on Chelsea in the 12.30pm kick-off live on TNT Sport.

Eddie Howe will be speaking to the media from 9.30am this morning, and we'll bring you updates from his press conference here, but there is an early update to share on the injury front.

In his Confidential Column for The Mail, Craig Hope issued an update on Tino Livramento's injury, along with the latest noises on three other recently absent Mags in Lewis Hall, Sven Botman and Will Osula.

Starting with Tino, there is good and bad news. The good news is initial scans suggest he has NOT suffered a severe, season-ending knee injury after being forced off in Wednesday's 2-1 win over Fulham.

However, the bad news is he's expected to miss a 'period of matches' around the busy festive schedule, suggesting he may not only miss out meeting with Chelsea, but also our Boxing Day trip to Man Utd and visit to Burnley on 30th December.

For Hall, his hamstring issue is minor and he's due back in the squad against former club Chelsea tomorrow, while Botman is thought to be targeting a return to action in 'late December', according to Hope's sources earlier this week.

As for Osula, he is now out of a protective boot following a persistent ankle issue and is targeting a return in the 'second week of January', meaning he may not be back until our home game with Leeds (7th January) or FA Cup meeting with Bournemouth (10th January).

Elsewhere, Howe recently suggested that Kieran Trippier and Emil Krafth were due back in the new year, while Nick Pope may be a name to watch out for in today's presser after hope earlier in the week that he was close to returning.