Moussa Sissoko is a doubt for Newcastle's game at Manchester United, but assistant coach Paul Simpson says the midfielder is determined to be fit



By Dan King - Newcastle United Digital Editor



Moussa Sissoko is a "real doubt" for Saturday's game at Manchester United - but the Frenchman does have an outside chance of featuring at Old Trafford according to assistant coach Paul Simpson.

The Magpies will definitely be without the suspended Daryl Janmaat against Louis van Gaal's Reds, who have won both of their Barclays Premier League games so far this season as well as beating Club Bruges 3-1 in a Champions League qualifier on Tuesday.

Sissoko came off at half time against Swansea last weekend with a groin complaint, and Newcastle initially feared that the influential midfielder could be out of action for a number of weeks.

But Simpson provided nufcTV with an update this week and said: "We're delighted with the improvement that Moussa's shown. At half-time (at the Liberty Stadium), we thought it was a real serious injury but by the end of the game it had settled down. He had a scan early on in the week and the signs were quite positive.

"Moussa's determined to be involved at Old Trafford at the weekend. He wants to play, he's made it quite clear to the medical staff and to the coaching staff. If he has a chance, he wants to be involved.

"He's done a little bit of light running. Whether this weekend's too early for him, we'll just have to wait and see but fingers crossed he'll continue making the recovery he has done to date and if he does that, you never know, we might see him out there."

Simpson, who also confirmed that Siem de Jong was back in training after missing the Swansea game through injury, added: "Moussa is a real doubt but fingers crossed, he may be okay. Apart from that, everything's looking a lot better.

"Paul Dummett has joined in training a couple of days this week. He's had a couple of real physical days with the rest of the group so he's feeling some aches and pains, which you would do after the period he's been out, but it's good to see him back out there.

"He's worked extremely hard to get himself back into this position, the medical staff have worked really hard, and what we want to do is keep as many players out on that training field as possible to give the head coach, Steve (McClaren), as many selection problems as he can possibly have, and hopefully we can pick the right team to go into our next fixture."

Click here to watch the full nufcTV interview with Paul Simpson