NEWCASTLE UNITED head into the packed festive period with no sign of their injury problems clearing up sufficiently to allow players to return before the New Year.

The Magpies take on Manchester United on Boxing Day in the first of what will be four matches in the space of nine days.

They desperately need a positive response to last weekend’s Tyne-Wear derby defeat to Sunderland, a result that made it four derby losses in a row, but will not be buoyed by the return of any key players.

Goalkeeping duo Tim Krul and Rob Elliot are out until the middle of January at the earliest, Davide Santon is working to a similar time frame and Mehdi Abeid is still to return to full training after breaking his toe while on international duty with Algeria.

Siem de Jong is still a month or so away from a first-team return, with Rolando Aarons, Ryan Taylor and Gabriel Obertan also ruled out of the whole of the Christmas programme.

“We are still waiting for Tim Krul and Rob Elliot to return,” said Pardew. “We also have Siem de Jong, who hasn’t really played a game for us, and Rolando Aarons to come back, so we still have some big, big players to come back into this group.

“Is Aarons still some time away? Yes, he is actually. I would say he’s at least three or four weeks away.

“Davide Santon is getting closer, another player who is very important and technically improves us because he keeps the ball, and that’s something we have to improve. In the second half of the season, we have two areas to improve on – retention of the ball and goalscoring.”

Jonas Gutierrez returned to action in a development game on Monday, but there is no chance of the Argentinian being back in the first-team fold until the middle of next month at the earliest.

Having watched the winger battle his way back from testicular cancer, Pardew does not want to push the 31-year-old too hard, although he has been delighted with Gutierrez’s fitness levels so far.

“It’s been a long, long road with the diagnosis he had, so we’re overjoyed,” he said. “We’re trying to give him some space to get back to his best. He’s working his way towards that. I don’t think he’ll feature in this Christmas period, but certainly by the end of January and into February, I think he’ll be looking to push on.

“He is fit, it’s just getting used to the ball again, seeing a game scenario and getting back up to speed. Where he’s at, he’s actually physically fine. I don’t think it’ll take him too long – maybe even quicker than I’m suggesting.”

Pardew was in a somewhat downbeat mood as he attended his final press briefing before Christmas, but the Newcastle boss will be urging his players to draw a line under last weekend’s derby defeat as they prepare to head to Old Trafford.

“We have to move on, it’s as simple as that,” he said. “We can’t dwell on it. It was a performance that was pretty good, but it wasn’t enough.

“We have good spirit and character in the squad. In terms of how we lost the game, if we were going to lose a game, I’d rather we lost it like that.

“We tried to win it, and that ambition won’t leave this team because we have a good spirit and we never give in. That’s been in evidence since Southampton really.”