FABIAN SCHAR remains a major doubt for Newcastle United’s home game with Bournemouth as he continues to struggle with the illness that kept him out of Wednesday’s win over Wolves.

Schar returned to training yesterday, but was not at 100 per cent after suffering from the effects of a bug for most of the week.

The Swiss centre-half will be assessed in the next 24 hours, with Howe clearly concerned by the ongoing impact of his illness issues.

“We’ll make a decision on Fabby,” said the Magpies boss. “He trained yesterday, but was not 100 per cent himself in terms of his wellbeing. He’s had a nasty cough, it was a nasty illness, so we’ll see how he’s recovered and then make a decision as to whether he’s fit enough to be involved.”

If Schar is not deemed to be ready to return to the starting line-up, Sven Botman will remain alongside Dan Burn after he returned to action in Wednesday’s win.

Botman spent ten months on the sidelines because of a cruciate injury prior to returning at the start of this month, but Howe is confident the Dutchman is capable of playing two games in the space of three days if needed.

“We monitor all the players,” he said. “It’s a quick turnaround with it being the early kick-off, so we lose a couple of hours there, so we’ll try to make the right decisions for the team, the squad and the individuals.”

Nick Pope will not be part of the squad tomorrow, but the goalkeeper is nearing the end of his recovery from a knee injury and could feature in the group that travels to Southampton in a week’s time.

“I think tomorrow might be a little bit too early, but certainly he’s (Pope) going to be close for next week,” said Howe. “He’s not trained with us yet, but he’s certainly building up to that moment. We’re happy with where he is at. Mentally, he’s getting there ready to play.”