Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce hopes to welcome two players back to his squad to face Leeds United following the club's recent Covid-19 shutdown.
The Magpies were hit with an outbreak of Covid-19 last month, causing their clash against Aston Villa to be postponed, with the club's training ground being closed for more than a week.
Bruce's side returned to action for the first time in more than two weeks with a 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, albeit with Javier Manquillo, Jamaal Lascelles, Fabian Schar, Mark Gillespie and Federico Fernandez all missing from their matchday squad.
Bruce did not specify any reasons for their absences, but Isaac Hayen, who played against the Baggies, has confirmed that he had previously been out with Covid-19.
Next up for the Magpies is a Wednesday night trip to Elland Road and Bruce is hoping to have a deeper squad at his disposal.
“We’re hoping that we get a couple of negative results – and a couple of more players (back),” said Bruce.
“We’ll see. We’ve still got far too many at this particular moment. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
"The last two (tests), we’ve been negative, so let’s hope we’ve caught it, and got rid of it, but, as I keep saying, the decision to shut us down when it was ripping through us was key to us playing today.”
Bruce also confirmed that four of his players had received the all-clear on Monday which played a key part in the match against the Baggies going ahead.
"We had three players who played today who had the virus, but it is about the after-effects and the way they recover," he continued.
"We've still got two or three who are poorly with it now, so I'm delighted for everyone concerned because it's been a really challenging 10 days or so."
The win over the Baggies saw Newcastle move up to 11th in the Premier League table, three points and three places ahead of Leeds United.
