Bruno Guimaraes may yet get the chance to make his first start for Newcastle United during a busy run of fixtures next month.
Newcastle will face Brighton on March 5 before embarking on trips to Southampton, Chelsea and Everton over the course of the next seven days.
The games at Southampton and Everton were originally due to be played during the festive season, but they were rearranged by the Premier League after Newcastle did not have enough senior players to contest the fixtures due to injury and illness.
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Newcastle, as a result, will play four games in 12 days next month and there is still a chance the Magpies could also face Crystal Palace at St James' Park on March 20.
However, this game will be rescheduled if Patrick Vieira's side knock Stoke City out of the FA Cup because the quarter-final ties are due to take place that weekend.
Newcastle's squad will certainly be tested, regardless and Guimaraes might get the chance to impress after being restricted to just 18 minutes of action from the bench so far due to the impressive form of Joe Willock, Jonjo Shelvey and Joelinton in the middle of the park.
"It's a really strong area," Eddie Howe told reporters about his midfield last week. "I think it's probably our strongest area in terms of personnel because if you add Sean Longstaff to that, every player would have an argument to say, 'I deserve to start'. Long may that continue.
"The message on Bruno is Bruno will start a lot of games for us and I think he will be a huge player.
"I don't think this period, where he's watching and learning from the Premier League, is a bad thing at all for him although I'm sure he will be frustrated because he wants to show everyone his talents.
"He'll have plenty of games to do that, especially with our fixture list on the horizon."
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