Newcastle United’s first team squad have a further ten days to prepare for their trip to Aston Villa a week on Monday – and they continued to work through the international break at the Magpies’ Benton training centre this week.
A handful of United players are currently away with their countries, with Ciaran Clark and Martin Dúbravka involved in vital EURO 2020 qualifiers for the Republic of Ireland and Slovakia respectively, while DeAndre Yedlin (USA), Miguel Almirón (Paraguay) and Matty Longstaff (England Under-20s) are also on international duty.
The rest of Steve Bruce’s squad - including defender Fabian Schär, who is recovering from a knee injury - have been training back home, though, as attentions began to turn to the Premier League game at Villa Park.
And Serena Taylor brought nufc.co.uk this gallery of images from Thursday’s session, which began in the gym.