Islam Slimani in line for Newcastle debut against Manchester United this weekend after training return
Algerian sriker joined on loan from Leicester on deadline day despite carrying a thigh injury but has now fully recovered
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ISLAM SLIMANI is in line to make a timely Newcastle debut against Manchester United on Sunday after returning to full training.
The striker, 29, was signed on loan from Leicester on deadline day, despite carrying a thigh injury.
But Slimani has now recovered from his problem and trained with his Toon team-mates for the first time on Wednesday, having worked on his own over the weekend and had Monday and Tuesday off.
The Algerian could even be thrown in from the start against the Red Devils, with current first-choice forwards Joselu and Dwight Gayle both out of form.
Joselu, 27, has scored just once in his last nine games and missed a penalty last week against Burnley, while Gayle, 27, who started at Crystal Palace at the weekend, is goalless in 12 matches.
New boy Slimani has netted only one goal himself in the Premier League this season – on New Year’s Day against Huddersfield, which was his last top-flight start.
Boss Rafa Benitez will be desperate for the hitman to hit the ground running at St James' Park, where they have not won in eight league games.
The Toon are fifth bottom, only one point above the drop zone.
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And Slimani predicted on his arrival at St James' Park that he could make the difference.
He said: "Knowing the power of the fans and crowd here and how great they are, and also speaking to the manager, it gave me the confidence that this was the right choice."
Benitez himself said at the time: "He is a player who can fight with defenders, challenge and score goals.
"Hopefully he can give us some experience and some different characteristics to the strikers that we have at the moment.”
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