The 34-year-old was injured in the Magpies' 4-3 win over Leeds United at St. James' Park, and missed his side's Emirates FA Cup penalty shoot-out win over Bournemouth and the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg defeat to Manchester City.

Schär posted an update on Instagram earlier in the week revealing he had gone under the knife in London, the operation had gone well and "the prognosis is better than first feared".

And United head coach Howe provided a further update on Friday morning, indicating that United could be without the influential centre back until the end-of-season run-in.

Here are some of the main talking points from Howe's pre-match media briefing:

On Schär and how long he is likely to be out for...

"He had a successful surgery yesterday which is great news. Everything went according to plan.

"It's difficult to give a definitive but I think around three months out will be the diagnosis we'll work towards. If it's any quicker then great, but we need to give Fabian time to recover."

On Dan Burn and Will Osula's fitness...

"They're both getting closer. Will hopefully will be training imminently - we'll then have to make a decision on when we can involve him in a matchday squad.

"Dan is improving. He's running which is a really good thing. His fitness will be OK, it will just be managing the pain of his injury."

On Jacob Murphy...

"Jacob has had another scan and again, nothing is showing which is a strange one. You have to go on the symptoms and how the player feels. That'll probably mean a period that Jacob has to come out. How long, I don't know but we're thankful it's not a serious problem and hopefully one we can overcome quickly."

On the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg defeat to Manchester City...

"I think there was a bit of fatigue in the Manchester City performance, whether that was physical or mental after the 120 minutes (against Bournemouth in the FA Cup). I know not everyone played those minutes but having watched the game, I don't think that was us at our physical best.

"Now it's a case, between that game and the Wolves game, of really trying to freshen the players up and try to get to our absolute best. This is a massive game in our Premier League season. We've built some momentum and we want to continue that as long as we can."

On Joelinton's form...

"He's such an important player for us. You see Joey at his snarling, aggressive, confronting best - I think that's when he's in his best mental place. There's a fine line, we don't want him sent off, but he plays with that edge to his game.

"We've seen a solid return from him since he's come back from his last injury. He had to be patient, but I think you've seen his qualities and how important he is. When he's there, we look a better team in my opinion."