Trio in doubt for Newcastle

Newcastle could be without three of their most important players for Thursday’s vital UEFA Cup tie at Sporting Lisbon.

Following yesterday’s 1-0 Premiership defeat at Tottenham, Souness revealed that captain Alan Shearer, first-choice goalkeeper Shay Given and midfielder Kieron Dyer could all miss the game.

Although they lead 1-0 from the first leg of the quarter-final match at St James’ Park, Graeme Souness’ side can expect a tough test against the Portuguese side.

“The idea was to give Alan an hour against Spurs, and then take him off,” Souness explained.

“But he got a dead leg in the first half. And next week is so important to us that we decided to take him off at half-time.

“I don’t know about Shay. He didn’t play against Spurs because of a hip injury, which he had prior to the last international get-together.

“Unfortunately, it seems to have recurred. It seemed to have cleared up, but now it has come back.”

Newcastle missed Given at White Hart Lane – his deputy Steve Harper was at fault along with defender Celestine Babayaro for Jermain Defoe’s 42nd-minute winner for Spurs.

Dyer missed the match through suspension following his on-pitch fight with team-mate Lee Bowyer in the home defeat by Aston Villa on April 2.

The ban does not cover European football, but the England midfielder could miss out anyway due to injury.

“Kieron is a doubt for us on Thursday,” confirmed Souness. “We’ll have to see if his hamstring injury clears up.”

The Newcastle chief also revealed that defender Titus Bramble – who has not played since the FA Cup quarter-final win over Spurs on March 13 as he is recovering from a hernia operation – could figure against Sporting.

While Newcastle ponder a week that sees them take on Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final three days after their match in the Portuguese capital, Tottenham also have their eye on European football.

The victory over the Magpies took Martin Jol’s men into seventh, which should be good enough to earn a UEFA Cup spot if Manchester United and Arsenal - virtually certain of Champions League qualification – meet in the FA Cup final.

Captain Ledley King said: “It is still a tough task for us to get into Europe, but at least some of the results on Saturday went in our favour.

“I thought we were unlucky to lose the FA Cup quarter-final against Newcastle last month, and we did a good job against them yesterday.”

Boss Jol set his side a target of at least four more wins to seal a European spot and King added: “We need to pick up as many points as we can.”

REF’S REPORT: Steve Bennett was in control of the game throughout, and the four bookings were all awarded correctly. Unlike so many referees, Bennett was keen to allow the match to flow.

FUSSY FACTOR: Bennett could have shown Newcastle striker Shola Ameobi a second yellow card for a lunge at Spurs Stephen Kelly, but opted instead for leniency.