Owen forced out with injury

Newcastle striker Michael Owen is out of tomorrow's pre-season friendly at Carlisle after picking up a thigh injury in training.

The 27-year-old picked up a minor injury in shooting practice and will miss the trip to Brunton Park, and probably Celtic's visit to Tyneside on Thursday evening.

However, manager Sam Allardyce does not expect the England international to be out of action for any more than ten days.

He said: ‘It's a slight thigh injury he picked up doing a little shooting exercise, so we are taking a precautionary measure and leaving him out of tomorrow's game.

‘Hopefully, it will be no more than a week or 10 days and he should be back in training again.

‘It may actually be a little early for the Celtic match, but Juventus on the Sunday is one we hope he can be fit for.’