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Newcastle United manager John Carver targets further progression

Image: John Carver: Plenty to play for this season

Newcastle manager John Carver insists the club have plenty to play for ahead of their Premier League game with Manchester United on Wednesday night.

The club are 11th in the table, 13 points above the relegation zone, as they prepare to welcome Louis van Gaal’s side to St James’ Park.

Carver is keen for his players to finish the season even higher in the table but they face a series of tough tests, with the game against United followed by a trip to Goodison Park to face Everton and a home game with Arsenal on March 21.

"Since I've had this position I've never thought about going down, only up,” he said.

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"There's no way in the world I'm going to allow this club to go flat and not continue to try and get as many points on the board as we can."

Newcastle have injuries to a number of players at the moment, although Ryan Taylor is expected to return on Wednesday, with long-term injury victims Remy Cabella, Rolando Aarons and Robbie Elliott in line to return to training early next week.

That injury list has caused Carver selection headaches but with the likes of Taylor, Gabriel Obertan and Sammy Ameobi working their way back to full fitness after their recent lay-offs, the Newcastle boss sees signs for encouragement.

"We have got four knee injuries which is very, very unusual and a collapsed lung. It is something we can't do anything about,” he added.

"You can make excuses but I am prepared to win with whatever I have got available and I've just got to get on with it.

“On the positive side of that, we have got three players coming back next week, and that is very important.”

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