The 34-year-old was stretchered off in the second half of the midweek 4-3 Premier League win and is among the Magpies' defensive options that will miss Saturday's Emirates FA Cup third round tie with Bournemouth at St. James' Park (kick-off 3pm GMT).

There were fears that Schär's ankle injury was a significant one but at his pre-match media briefing on Friday morning, United head coach Howe moved to allay those concerns and said he was hopeful the centre back had avoided the worst possible scenario.

Here are some of the main talking points ahead of this weekend's cup clash with the Cherries:

On Schär's injury...

"Hopefully not too bad, or maybe not as bad as it first looked. That's the initial sort of assessment.

"He's got an injury there, but no break - we think it's just ligament damage. He's seeing a specialist in the next few days to get some definitive answers, but (it's) maybe more positive than the initial assessment."

On the Magpies' defensive options and Dan Burn's fitness...

"It's not ideal for us. We've been stretched in that area for a while, and we get Sven (Botman) back and then lose Fabian, and Fabian's been outstanding for us.

"Dan was given a timeframe that I think will roughly ended up being the timeframe - I'm not sure how much we can shave off that with the type of injury he's got.

"But he's making good progress - he's running, he's out on the grass, he's here every day, and Dan will be very keen to push himself back, but it's one we have to be careful with."

On the FA Cup and the need for focus...

"For whatever reason, we haven't quite matched the success we've had in the Carabao Cup - that's a frustration for us. I felt last year was a big opportunity and it ended in us losing against Brighton, which was frustrating for us because we'd done the hard work.

"The FA Cup is a great competition. The early rounds are I think the most difficult because for us this year, we're surrounded by loads of other games, and we really need to make sure that we focus on this one because want to progress, we want to do well in every competition that we play.

"We can't have our eyes focused on the Manchester City game or future games in the Champions League. We're trying to get that focus narrowed, and it'll be a tough game for us."

On Lewis Miley's recent performances in unfamiliar roles...

"I see his long-term position in midfield, but we'll use him wherever the team needs as long as he's comfortable with that, and at the moment he's very keen to play anywhere to help the team. He's got a great mindset for it and he's not phased - whatever you ask him to do, he does to the best of his ability.

"I thought he was outstanding going in at centre half the other day (against Leeds) in a game where we weren't in total control of transitions, we weren't in total control or on top of the game. He's had some moments where he's had to go one-on-one against centre forwards and he's dealt with those situations really well, so we were very, very impressed with him again.

"He has, bizarrely, played centre half more than he's played full back. We've trained him there a number of times in the last two years. He's always looked really comfortable and composed, so I was a little bit more relaxed with him going in that position. The full back one was sprung on him, and that's the really positive surprise."