Newcastle United centre back Florian Lejeune has returned to full training after a long-term knee injury and could be in contention to face West Ham this weekend.
The Frenchman suffered an anterior left knee cruciate ligament injury against Crystal Palace last April, just a few months after recovering from the same injury to his right knee, and has been out of action ever since.
However, he has been back in full training and turned out out for the Toon U23s on Monday, playing 45 minutes of their 2-2 draw with north east rivals Middlesbrough in PL2.
He has seemingly come through the outing with the unscathed and he defender could find himself back in the matchday squad for their trip to London Stadium this weekend.
Fellow defender Federico Fernandez made his first appearance of the season on Sunday as Steve Bruce starts to get some of his defenders back from long-term injuries.
Newcastle are struggling at the wrong end of the table, currently sitting 17th in the standings but did pick up a decent draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.
West Ham meanwhile are suffering through a four-game winless run which stretches back to September 22 when they saw off Mnchester United 2-0 at London Stadium but haven't picked up three points since.
In recent games, Bruce has been employing a centre back trio with skipper Jamal Lascelles and Ciaran Clark and previously Fabian Schar though the latter missed Sunday's draw, with Fernandez coming in as his replacement.
For the Hammers, midfielder Jack Wilshere missed the draw with Sheffield United at the weekend with a groin injury and is a doubt for the Toon clash.
Manuel Pellegrini made five changes to his side for the game in E20 but none of them were injury related. The club is hopeful that Winston Reid, who has not played a competitive game in 18 months, could feature for the U23s against Wolfsburg in Dagenham on Wednesday.
