Howe delivers encouraging injury update ahead of City trip | OneFootball

United head to the home of the reigning champions after back-to-back cup wins - in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Arsenal, and the Emirates FA Cup fourth round at Birmingham City.

But points are at stake at the Etihad Stadium this weekend and after Anthony Gordon and Sven Botman missed the FA Cup victory over the League One side - and Dan Burn was withdrawn with a groin problem during that win - Howe said that all three had managed to avoid serious injury, and could be back in action in the near future.

The Newcastle head coach spoke to the media on Friday morning ahead of the trip to face Pep Guardiola's side. Here are some of the main talking points from that pre-match briefing...

On Gordon, Botman and Burn's fitness...

"(Gordon) should be fine. He's trained this week, no problems. It was a thigh problem, but he responded well to treatment over the weekend, and he's trained.

"Good news on the scan that (Botman) had after the injury - we don't think there's any long term issue there. Short term, there's a still a bit of pain there for him, so we think he'll miss this weekend but hopefully won't be far away for the following games.

"The initial outlook on Dan wasn't positive, but he had a scan and the scan was good. He's improved a lot very quickly this week so he'll be very close this weekend."

On Harvey Barnes, who is working his way back from injury...

"He's not far (away) - he's done really well. We're really pleased with how he's looked, so he's another player who's close to being in contention."

On Joelinton's injury...

"We hope by that time (of the Carabao Cup Final) he will be back fit and available.

"He is very driven to get back. Joe is making good progress. When he approaches his injury, he is very positive to get back and shave time off the estimated target that he has been given, which is a great thing.

"But also, we need to control that and make sure that he comes back in a really good place. He is very positive at the moment."

On the impact if Sandro Tonali at Birmingham City last weekend...

"Last week, the plan was always to rotate Bruno (Guimarães) and Sandro. I thought when Sandro come on in the second half he brought us stability in our performance at a time when we needed it.

"It is well documented how good he is on the ball - he is very calm, composed, positive in his passing, very good technically. But the off-the-ball work he does, the transitional aspect of his play, has been at the highest level and it really helped us."

On Manchester City and the coming weeks...

"We know it will be a very difficult game. They are still a very good team - for me they are still the benchmark.

"We will have to try and deliver our best performance to get the result we want from this match. They have a very good squad (and) have made some good additions in January. We need to produce in all aspects of our play to be competitive.

"It is going to be a great few weeks for us, a time to evaluate our strength and see how we are. This will be a pivotal stage of the Premier League season, a really defining few weeks for us."