Owen Could Make his Return Against Birmingham

England and Newcastle striker Michael Owen could make his return on the football field after the foot injury that kept him out of the competitions for the past 4 months. On New Year's Eve, Owen broke a bone in his foot during the match Newcastle played against Tottenham Hotspurs and the doctor's verdict couldn't have been more cruel: out for at least 4 months.

And the 4 months are up. With the World Championship in Germany closing up, the young Englishman needs to play as many matches as he can so he would return to the form that brought him into England's squad for Germany. After the healing period, Owen started to train with the ball for the past weeks and he seems 100% ready to play in an official game. He made the team for last weekend match against West Bromwich, but had to stay on the bench all the match since he wasn't fully recovered.

"I've been training since Monday and it has been really good, much better than I thought. I haven't spoken to the manager in detail yet but I think it would be sensible, after being out for just under five months, to gradually give me maybe 20 minutes on Saturday and then more in the next game", said the English striker. He continued on his health problems: "With a muscle I suppose you can go at half-pace to protect it but with a bone it's either not healed or it's okay".

The Birmingham match is a very important one for Newcastle, especially since the team must retain their current 7th position in the standings, necessary for qualifying into the UEFA playoff next year. After a very bad start, the team from St. James Park recovered well and could hope for a European road next year. If they don't want to lose that, they'll have to win every game until the end of the season, since Bolton is only 2 points behind in the standings.