Woodgate could face former club as Pardew ponders recalling Tiote and Taylor
Published 15:44 28/10/11 By MirrorFootball
Jonathan Woodgate could start against his former club Newcastle in the Barclays Premier League on Monday night after returning to the Stoke side for Wednesday's Carling Cup match with Liverpool.
Woodgate played the full 90 minutes of the 2-1 defeat having missed the previous three games with a calf injury, while Jermaine Pennant might also be involved having appeared as a second-half replacement against the Reds following a hamstring injury.
Danny Higginbotham, out since April with a serious knee injury, is on the comeback trail and has turned out for the reserves but striker Mamady Sidibe is facing another spell on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury.
Provisional squad: Begovic, Sorensen, Nash, Wilson, Huth, Shawcross, Upson, Wilkinson, Whelan, Whitehead, Diao, Etherington, Walters, Shotton, Arismendi, Pennant, Delap, Crouch, Palacios, Jerome, Jones, Higginbotham, Woodgate.
***
Newcastle boss Alan Pardew could include midfielder Cheik Tiote and defender Steven Taylor in his starting line-up for Monday's Barclays Premier League clash with Stoke at the Britannia Stadium.
Taylor, who broke his nose in last weekend's 1-0 victory over Wigan, is the more likely to play, possibly with a mask, while Tiote is battling to recover from a knee injury.
One player who will definitely be absent is striker Shola Ameobi, who has been ruled out for at least a month with a hamstring problem.
Provisional squad: Krul, Elliot, Simpson, R Taylor, Santon, Ferguson, Coloccini, S Taylor, Perch, Cabaye, Gutierrez, Marveaux, Obertan, Gosling, Guthrie, Ben Arfa, Abeid, Vuckic, Smith, Ba, Best, Lovenkrands, Sammy Ameobi.
