Newcastle United have sorely missed Papiss Cisse's goals during his seven-game suspension for spitting - but John Carver has revealed the striker is facing a battle to regain his fitness before the season is out. The Magpies took the opportunity during Cisse's extended suspension for the striker to undergo much-needed knee treatment - and he is yet to return to full training, despite the fact he will be available again for Newcastle's home match against West Bromwich Albion on May 9th. Toon supporters have been longing for top-scorer Cisse's return during their club-record Premier League losing streak of seven straight matches - with the Magpies having failed to win a single game since their 11-goal striker was suspended at the beginning of March. However, there are now fears that not only may Cisse miss the West Brom game, but he may not be back until next season - bringing about the possibility the 29-year-old Senegalese forward may have played his last game for Newcastle, given his age and injury record. During his pre-match press conference on Thursday, Carver said:
Hes working with the medical team at the moment, hes not 100%. Hes not joined in with us yet with any football, so well just have to wait and see. Its another opportunity for (Emmanuel) Riviere. He (Riviere) did ever so well last week, especially in the first-half. He hadnt had too much football and he ran out of steam.
In fact, Carver was so impressed with Riviere's first-half performance last week that he also confirmed the Frenchman will again start upfront against Leicester City on Saturday - with Siem de Jong only deemed fit enough to take up a place on the Magpies bench. When Carver was talking about Riviere, he added:
Hell play, he will start this weekend because he deserves to. He ran himself into the ground for us last week. When I took him off I wasnt sure whether the boos were for him or me. I need 11 players who are going to do for me what he did for me last weekend.
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