Roeder: "It is rubbish. Michael is well on course, and although it doesn't seem likely he will make the Chelsea FA Cup tie, he is recovering very well, with no problems."
However ... the England striker underwent surgery to tighten the screw inserted into his foot in January, which almost certainly means Owen's own target of playing for at least a month of the Premiership season with Newcastle will have to be revised. His target was March 20, and now it looks as though he will struggle to make April 17, which will give him a month of Premiership action before the trip to Germany.
The 26-year-old fractured a metatarsal in his right foot in a Premiership game at Tottenham on December 31.