Newcastle United Football Club News

• Nickname:Magpies
• Founded:1881
• Manager:Alan Pardew

• Ground:St James' Park
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Slight strain for Given

08 Aug 2007 - 15:53:43

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Newcastle United goalkeeper Shay Given looks set to miss the first two Premier League games of the campaign after suffering a groin injury in Sunday's pre-season friendly against Sampdoria.

The Republic of Ireland international has had an initial scan that showed he had suffered only a slight strain, to boss Sam Allardyce's relief.

The former Bolton boss told the Magpies' official website: "He's gone to see a specialist in London because we want to make sure just how much damage has been done.

"He's been for a scan and it doesn't look serious, it's just a slight strain. At the moment we only expect him to be out for a couple of weeks, but we won't take any risks.

"We're happy with the initial diagnosis, but we've just sent him away to get a second opinion.

"He's had a few injuries of this kind recently and we want to make certain there aren't going to be any side effects down the line.

"It doesn't look as though it's going to keep him out for very long, so we won't look to bring in another goalkeeper as cover at this stage.

"If the situation has changed after he's seen the specialist, and he's going to be missing for longer than we first thought, we might have to bring another keeper into the squad because we'll be a bit short."

Newcastle face Bolton Wanderers and Aston Villa in the first week of the season, but Given is expected to feature in the Tyne-Tees clash with Middlesbrough on August 26.