Newcastle injury update on Tonali, Bruno, Miley and Schar - Howe speaks ahead of Sunderland

Newcastle United meet Sunderland at St James' Park on Sunday at midday, live on Sky Sports.

Every game between now and the end of the campaign is 'the biggest game of the season', but let's be honest, none are going to be as big as this one.

The bragging rights are on the line once again, and the Magpies need to put an end to the run of Premier League dominance by the Mackems. The FA Cup win a couple of seasons ago was nice, but this is where it matters.

Newcastle owe the fans a performance after crashing out of the Champions League on Wednesday. And that's not us saying that, it's Anthony Elanga.

Howe gives injury update ahead of derby

Speaking to the media just moments ago, Eddie Howe gave an injury update on Friday morning on a few key players.

The boss has offered some hope around Sandro Tonali’s availability after he hobbled off against Barcelona on Wednesday, while he also gave some good news on Fabian Schar, Bruno Guimaraes and Lewis Miley, who are all due back after the upcoming international break.

"We will wait and see on Sandro, it is maybe not as bad as first feared.

“We will see how he is today and make a decision closer to the game.

“We anticipate Lewis [Miley] will be back after the break, same with Bruno and Fab."

Miley concern, Schar boost

We didn't expect anything else when it came to Bruno Guimaraes and Fabian Schar, but this Lewis Miley injury really is becoming a worry.

For what was originally described as a dead leg, Miley has been out a long time and he's missed a few potential return dates already.

It's much better news on Fabian Schar to be in contention after the international break. We thought we'd be lucky to see him in action again this season if we were being honest.

More importantly, it's good to see that Bruno is on track to return sooner rather than later. We've managed without him, but that's not to say we haven't missed him.