Christian Atsu believes Newcastle United will welcome back some injured players after the international break.

Newcastle won the Championship last season, earning an instant return to the Premier League, but the north east outfit have found life difficult in the early stages of the 2017-18 campaign.

A 2-0 defeat against Tottenham at St James' Park on the opening weekend was made worse after summer signing Florian Lejeune and left-back Paul Dummett both went off injured in the first half.

Key midfielder Jonjo Shelvey was also shown a straight red card for a stamp on Dele Alli, providing manager Rafael Benitez with a huge headache after just one game of the season.

A 1-0 loss to Huddersfield Town followed, increasing the pressure, but the Magpies responded with a resounding 3-0 home win over West Ham United, who have lost their opening three matches.

Atsu, who joined permanently this summer after a successful loan spell, is confident the injury list will start to shorten for Newcastle during the current international break in time for clash against Swansea on September 10.

He told the Chronicle: "Some of us will get a rest and those who are injured will come back to fitness and help the team. We are very confident that those who have not played recently will be back to join the team."