Sheffield United insist Jack O'Connell COULD start alongside John Fleck at Newcastle United

The duo missed Wednesday’s draw with Aston Villa after suffering what have been described as “impact injuries” during the build-up to the fixture - the first to take place in England since competition was suspended in March because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although the knock Fleck sustained is not thought to be as serious as the one O’Connell picked-up during a collision with a team mate, Wilder appears to have been encouraged by the results of a scan the centre-half underwent following United’s return from the West Midlands.

Playing down reports O’Connell is set to miss the rest of the campaign, Wilder said: “We’ll give them, Jack and John, as much time as possible as always. It’s a quick turnaround. They are two contact injuries, so not soft muscle injuries. It’s their attitude as to how they train. We were unfortunate in that situation but maybe we’ve been fortunate over the season so we just have to go with it.”

O’Connell, who has been touted as a future England international following an impressive start to his top-flight career, had been an ever-present for United this term until being ruled-out of the trip to Villa.

Expressing his disappointment that news O’Connell and Fleck were undergoing treatment had been leaked to the media before the meeting with Dean Smith’s side, Wilder also predicted David McGoldrick will recover in time to face Newcastle after falling awkwardly at Villa Park.

“We’ve had the results of Jack’s scan,” Wilder said. “We are just deciding what route to go down.

“We’re trying to keep everything in house and it wasn’t kept in-house before Wednesday. That was a disappointing thing that it’s come out. Nothing is going to be given away.”

“Jack has got a chance of playing and John has got a chance of playing,” he added. “David McGoldrick is also going to be training over the weekend.”

United prepared for the match in sixth, with nine outings remaining.

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