Newcastle Alarm Bells As Owen Picks Up Thigh Strain in Training

Three weeks before the start of the season Michael Owen is once again injured, the 27 year-old Newcastle United striker having aggravated a slight thigh strain during shooting practice yesterday. Owen is out of the friendly at Carlisle United this afternoon and the club's manager Sam Allardyce indicated the player will also miss the visit of Celtic to St James' Park on Thursday night.

Newcastle then host Juventus tomorrow week and Allardyce said Owen "should be fit" to play against the Italians. Allardyce's tone was not pessimistic but the new injury is a complication Newcastle could do without.

Allardyce has frequently remarked on Newcastle's historic injury problems since his arrival at the club and the Owen development will add to that concern. If the injury were to prove worse than the current diagnosis then Newcastle will want their new signing Mark Viduka to return from the Asia Cup as quickly as possible. Viduka plays for Australia against Japan in the quarter-finals in Hanoi today and if successful then has a semi-final on Wednesday and a possible final in Jakarta next Sunday.

Owen missed all but the final three of Newcastle's Premiership games last season following his serious knee injury with England at the World Cup. That length of time out makes Owen's body susceptible to strains and he and Newcastle will not be satisfied that he is recovered fully until Owen has played a series of 90-minute matches consecutively.

Allardyce's other striking options are Shola Ameobi - also of unproven match fitness following almost as much time out as Owen - and Obafemi Martins. The Nigerian's dedication to Newcastle is unknown but unless a bid from another club materializes, Martins will start the season a Newcastle player.

There has been doubt as to Kieron Dyer's status - though not from the player who is not agitating to leave - and Allardyce tried to clarify the midfielder's position yesterday. Allardyce said of rumors about interest from West Ham: "There has been no bid from West Ham, we've had no contact from either Alan Curbishley or their chief executive. So I don't know if there is anything in the reports that they are interested in signing Kieron.

"If we are going to hear from them, I would assume it's going to be this weekend. Kieron is a player who is an integral part of my plans but, like everything else, I will need to have a chat with him to see if he thinks there is anything in a move to West Ham. If there is, we will discuss it privately. It would take a very sizable offer to even tempt me to let him go."