Howe fires a depth charge

EDDIE HOWE says Newcastle’s squad is not deep enough to compete on three fronts. Ahead of tonight’s FA Cup trip to Sheffield Wednesday, Howe has been boosted by the return to training of Alexander Isak, the £60million striker who has been missing since October with a torn thigh muscle.

But defender Matt Targett and midfielder Jonjo Shelvey are both out until February. When asked if his squad is strong enough, Howe said: ‘Without any injuries, yes. With injuries, probably not. With a full group, I think we are strong enough and have quality in every position, but you lose a few players and suddenly that changes.’ Financial Fair Play remains an issue given a spend of more than £200million last year. Howe said: ‘We have spent money in the previous two windows and FFP is impacting what we can do. FFP and our need to improve, they are two different things.’

On Isak, he added: ‘I don’t want to put pressure on him. We’ll introduce him at the right time.’